A Lone Bird
by Ricta
Summary: Dick Grayson wasn't adopted by Bruce after the death of his parents. 3 years later who's this new face in Gotham? More importantly, will this strange person become the biggest mystery the Bat has ever encountered? Set during season 1
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** In case anyone has forgotten or don't know…I don't own any of this.

.

**A/N: I assume you all know (the first) Robin's story – but here's a quick version if you don't – Dick was performing with his family when a trapeze rigged by one Tony Zucco broke causing his parents [John and Mary Grayson] to fall to their death. Some versions include other members of his family – aunt, uncle and cousin I think - falling as well, though the uncle (?) survives in a coma. Obviously the story I know only included his mom and dad. My story is gonna change what occurs after, mostly that Bruce isn't going to adopt him – not that he doesn't want to, though. So I guess that it's technically an AU.**

.

Chapter 1

A young raven haired boy sat alone, sobbing, after having been pulled from the mutilated bodies of his parents after an "accident" had caused them to fall to their deaths. The husband and wife duo had been performing when the trapeze wire failed and sent the acrobats plummeting. The whole incident seemed to be a horrible mishap. But he knew better. He knew that this was no accident.

No. This was murder.

His parents had been killed by that man.

Tony Zucco.

And he was going to _pay_.

The boy had seen the man leaving the tent before his family had gone to perform. He'd seen him the day before, too, talking to Mr. Haley. Only now did the boy realize that Zucco had been threatening the ringleader. He should have said _something_; he suspected that the man was up to no good, but he never expected that something like _this_ would happen. He had been naïve and now his parents were gone.

He knew that it wasn't completely his fault. Zucco was a demented and evil man, but he couldn't help but blame himself. He couldn't help but think _'what if I had done this? Would they still be here with me?'_

He would never forgive himself, and there was no way he would ever forgive Zucco either.

.

There was no evidence, of course. It was made to look like a tragic accident. The police probably wouldn't even investigate. They'd take his parents' bodies to the morgue and drop him off at some random orphanage in Gotham before filing a report of the 'unfortunate death of the famous Flying Graysons.' He'd be adopted and live a new, _ordinary_ life.

Ha.

What a joke.

He had never been what others would call _normal_. He grew up in as an acrobat in a circus, after all. But there was no way that he was ever going to be normal, not after this. Not after what _he_ did.

.

The boy looked up from where he had been staring at the ground in front of him and saw the man who had turned his world upside down slinking out of the tent. Richard "Dick" Grayson felt an unimaginable rage build up inside of him. Zucco was _not_ going to just walk away from this scot-free. He wouldn't let it happen.

No. Freaking. Way.

The boy looked around seeing that none of the authorities there were paying attention to him. A man in an expensive looking suit seemed to be trying to get to him, but too many other people were getting in his way. The man had a look in his eyes – like he understood what Dick was going through. He was tempted to stay to see what the man wanted.

No, he couldn't afford to get distracted, it didn't matter now. All that mattered was catching Zucco.

He locked eyes with the man for a brief moment before the stranger turned away, distracted by something off to his side. The moment that the man's eyes were off of him, Dick made his move. The boy sank into the shadows of the tent and went after Zucco.

.

*Bruce's pov*

.

He knew what it was like to see your parents die right in front of you. He had seen it himself when his parents were gunned down by a thief in the alley that night all of those years ago. The pain never really goes away.

That boy needed someone to be there for him, like Alfred had always been there for Bruce. The police were completely ignoring the young boy who was sitting off by himself - crying his eyes out.

'_Why wouldn't these people stop asking him how he felt about witnessing this and if it reminded him of his parents' death?' _Bruce wondered as he tried to push his way over to the boy. _'Couldn't they see that poor child that had just lost his own parents? What was wrong with these people?'_

Bruce locked his eyes on the little boy who was now staring toward the entrance of the tent. The young acrobat turned and glanced around before his startling blue eyes met with Bruce's own dark navy.

Something off to the side caught the man's attention and he looked away for a fraction of a second. When he looked back, the little boy was gone.

How could he have just disappeared like that?

More importantly, what was that intense anger that had been smoldering behind that boy's gaze?

.

**Hello everyone ^_^**

**Yeah, my other story's not really…working out (the one I mentioned at the end of **_**Unforgettable Trip**_**… or was it **_**Important Lesson**_**? Whatever, but I have mentioned it in another story). Did you know that there are over 700 villains in the DC universe?**

**Seven freaking hundred!**

**I wanted a group of villains that were lesser known for my other story idea, but JEEZ! So that story is on hold (again – by the way, since I started it **_**before**_** I wrote **_**An Unforgettable Trip**_**) until I find the right villains to play the part. Or I make them up – which is looking really good right now. But I'm not huge on OCs – sometimes they're OK, other times they're just…meh **

**But I digress**

**So… like it, hate it, bury this story six feet under and never think about it again? **

**I'll update soon**

**BYE!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Young Justice or any other DC characters

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

_Something off to the side caught the man's attention and he looked away for a fraction of a second. When he looked back, the little boy was gone._

_How could he have just disappeared like that?_

_More importantly, what was that intense anger that had been smoldering behind that boy's gaze?_

.

Chapter 2

The boy slipped through the circus grounds using everything that he came across as cover. He couldn't afford to be spotted - not now, not when he was so close.

Zucco had yet to notice that he was being shadowed as he snuck away from the scene of the crime. When he left the grounds a sadistic smile spread across his face. He'd gotten away with it; no one was going to think of this little incident as anything more than a horrible accident.

It was getting late; the sun had just gone down as Zucco entered the forested area that surrounded the circus grounds. His car along with his posse was parked just past the forest – far enough away that it wouldn't seem like a getaway car, but still in walking distance.

Dick's eyes quickly adjusted to the lack of light as the two entered the tree line. He knew that this was his only chance; if Zucco left this forest then Dick would probably never see him again. The young acrobat quickly formulated a plan and easily pulled himself up into a tree.

Zucco was about halfway through the little wooded area when he heard a noise. By now it was almost completely dark and the trees blocked out any light from entering the space which added to the overall creepy atmosphere.

Goosebumps formed along his arms when he heard something rustling in the bushes.

"It's just some stupid animal" he said to himself, but the fear in his eyes was a blatant contradiction to his words. He had never quite been able to overcome his childhood fear of the forest at night. It was the result of a movie he watched that he probably shouldn't when he was younger. Like many of those types of horror movie, a group of teens was in the forest for some reason late at night and were slowly picked off by a creature that lived there.

But that was just a movie…

Zucco had been trying to get over this fear for many years, but sometimes fears like this one was hard to surpass.

.

(Back at the circus)

Commissioner Gordon had just arrived at the scene and entered the tent to find pure chaos. It looked as if the Joker had come in and told everyone there that he had planted a bomb in the area. He knew that couldn't be the case, Joker was in Arkham - or he thought the clown was at least. You never really knew when he was going to break himself out again.

"What in the world is going on here?" he asked, not that anyone could hear him. He sighed and tried again – this time louder. "EVERYONE, CALM DOWN!" he bellowed.

"Commissioner Gordon, thank goodness you're here!" a nearby police officer exclaimed.

"What the heck is going on here officer?" Gordon demanded.

"The boy vanished sir" the officer replied.

"Boy?" Gordon asked, not yet having been briefed on the whole situation.

"Yeah, the couple had a young boy" the man clarified.

"How did he vanish?" Gordon asked.

"We don't know, one minute he was there and the next he was gone" the officer replied.

"Why was no one watching him?" Gordon asked irritably.

"I don't know sir" the officer said in an apologetic tone. Gordon sighed.

"Get together a search party and find him" he ordered. The officer saluted and left to gather a small group of officers and complete his task.

.

(The woods)

Tony Zucco was now running blindly through the trees. He deviated from his previous path and, as a result, was now lost. Lost and running from whatever that _thing_ was.

.

(Flashback to a few moments ago)

The mob boss was beginning to suspect that it wasn't an animal that he heard rustling the bushes. He started walking a little faster as he continued to glance around.

That's when the mumbling started. It was the kind of muttering that you can _almost_ understand, like if people in the room next to you are talking quietly. You know that they are talking, but you can't quite tell what they're saying. Usually it's just frustrating, but in this setting it was creepy.

He was practically jogging now, trying to escape the creature that was following him. Zucco started catching glimpses of something jumping through the trees next to him.

Suddenly it sprung from the tree and landed directly in front of him. Needless to say, the man turned in the opposite direction and ran, becoming even more lost and disoriented.

(End flashback)

.

The villain pulled out his gun. He could hear the rustling of foliage directly to his right. Zucco fired randomly in the direction of the noise, using all of the shots he had in his hand gun. He had to get it before it got him – no he had to stop thinking like that, it was just a movie – one he shouldn't have watched when he was younger … right? He heard a grunt of pain, so he knew he had hit it, but not killed it.

All coherent thoughts left him as he heard movement.

It was moving towards him again. Zucco threw the now useless weapon down as his eyes filled with fear and he resumed his aimless sprint through the forest.

After awhile he could no longer hear it following him. He slowed down panting heavily, but didn't dare to stop and rest. Something dropped down from the trees in front of him, blocking his path once more. The difference was that this time, he didn't run.

No. He couldn't run.

Zucco was frozen. Frozen in fear of the being which now approached him.

The creature stepped forward, its vibrant and hate filled blue eyes catching what little light was present and making them seem as though they were glowing. Its pale skin added to the electrifying eyes gave it an eerie if not ghostly appearance.

Adding to the overall 'horror movie' atmosphere was the stream of crimson red blood that slowly ran down its left arm standing out in stark contrast to the pale skin it flowed over.

Zucco let out a yelp of fright and fell back landing hard on the ground. He scrambled backwards a few feet with a look of absolute terror on his face.

Zucco stared at the boy in horror. No, not boy - thing, creature, even demon, but that thing was _no_ boy. There was no way that this thing was human, no matter how human it looked. It must have been a trap that the creature was using. That's it. It had to be. The man laughed to himself hysterically. That _thing_ wasn't going to get him – oh no, he was too smart for it, he knew it was trying to trap him – but he figured out its plan, oh yes it was taking the form of a boy, like the one who belonged to those acrobats, it was just trying to get to him – make him lower his guard so it could get him. That wasn't going to happen. No, no because he knew, oh yes he knew.

Dick took a step closer looking curiously at the man who had ruined his life only hours earlier.

Tony Zucco was sitting in fetal position, rocking back and forth with a crazed smile on his face. Every few moments he would laugh to himself.

It would be so easy, so simple to just reach out and wrap his hands around the man's throat. It wouldn't take much effort; Zucco wouldn't be coherent enough to stop him from exacting his revenge.

Dick reached out but stopped, his hands hovering mere inches before the man's throat.

No.

This wasn't the answer. No matter how much he wanted Zucco dead - and he did more than anything - he knew that it wouldn't change anything. His parents would still be dead and what would he have to show for it?

Nothing.

He would be a murderer, just like the man in front of him. The monster that had killed his family. The man who now sat before him a shell of what he once was because of his cowardice.

The orphaned acrobat gave the broken man a final glance before disappearing into the woods that surrounded him.

.

**This chapter mocks me, mocks me with its blatant disrespect. I am its creator, how dare it have the audacity to make me take forever writing it? **

**But seriously, this took me **_**forever**_

**So yeah, Zucco lost it and I obviously did a terrible job of showing that, but what are ya gonna do? The thing with him being afraid of the forest is totally made up, but it's my story and I needed a reason for the man to lose it. Personally I don't think simply being chased is gonna do that – there has to be something deeper. Like an old childhood fear.**

***stare***

**Why do you guys do this to me? You read one chapter and you favorite it...what if it sucks? THEN WHAT? You don't know, heck, even I don't know. And you'll be all like "why did I favorite this?" and unfavorite it D: Does it alert me if someone unfavorites a story? Can you unfavorite a story?**

**the horror...oh well **

**BYE!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer**: Young Justice is not mine. I don't own it and I don't claim to

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

_The orphaned acrobat gave the broken man a final glance before disappearing into the woods that surrounded him._

.

Chapter 3

Bruce had eventually returned to the manor after being assured by Commissioner Gordon that he would be contacted should they find any news on the youngest Grayson.

Gordon had been curious about Bruce's interest in the boy, and when he asked Bruce told him that he was thinking of taking in the orphaned acrobat – if he didn't have any other family, of course. The Commissioner did not need to ask why. He knew that the boy must have reminded Bruce of what happened with his own parents. Gordon had easily agreed to keep Bruce in the loop on the search.

The billionaire had been waiting for what felt to him like hours. He wanted nothing more than to go and track the boy down himself, but it would be suspicious if he wasn't there when Gordon called. Finally the phone rang. He waited anxiously as Alfred answered the call.

"It is Commissioner Gordon, Sir" Alfred stated handing him the phone. Bruce nodded his thanks as he placed the phone to his ear.

"Bruce?" came the Commissioner's voice.

"Yes, have you found him?" the billionaire asked worriedly. There was a pause.

"Well…not exactly" Gordon replied slowly.

"What do you mean?" Bruce asked with a sinking feeling. He heard Gordon sigh.

"Bruce, the search party found blood and a gun in the woods just outside the circus grounds. When we tested a sample it was found to be a match of Richard Grayson's. A little ways off Tony Zucco was found, but…Bruce something happened to the man. He is a well known mob boss, but we've never been able to get enough evidence to put him away. He was found sitting in fetal position and muttering to himself about how 'it wasn't going to get him.' He has completely lost it; we don't know what could have happened though we suspect he is the one that shot Richard Grayson."

Neither spoke as Bruce allowed the information to settle in.

"What about Richard, did you find him or his…?" Bruce asked trailing off not wanting to believe that the boy may be little more than a body now.

"No, we only found the blood, but there were tire tracks just outside the forest that weren't very old." Gordon replied quickly.

"Oh, well can you call me if you find anything else?" the billionaire asked.

"Of course" Gordon answered.

Bruce hung the phone up with a sigh and fell back heavily into his chair. The boy could be anywhere by now and if he was taken by whoever left those tire tracks, then he may not even be alive anymore – if he was still alive after being shot.

However, there was always the chance, no matter how slim, that the boy had left on his own. Bruce didn't know why he would do so, but after a traumatizing even like the death of his parents, no one could be sure what Richard was thinking. The young Grayson would still be in danger even if that was the case – this was Gotham after all, but it might give Batman a better chance at finding him.

Of course that was considering that he wanted to be found or that he stayed in Gotham…

Bruce drew in a deep breath then released it. There was no point in sitting around thinking of the possibilities; if he didn't start searching now then the trail may run cold before he finds any clues on the boy.

The billionaire stood and walked over to the grandfather clock that served as an entrance to the Batcave. It was late so if Gordon called again it wouldn't seem odd if Alfred had to go and get him. The only reason he had waited for the first call was because he had been worried when he left the circus grounds and it would seem odd if he had simply gone home and 'went to bed.'

.

(9 months later – Metropolis)

.

A young ebony haired boy was wandering the streets of Metropolis when a siren sounded. Some fire trucks zoomed past him as he turned to look in the direction they were headed.

Black smoke billowed into the air from a burning apartment complex. Dick followed after the crowd of people who rushed in a panic to the scene, but opted to stay back in the shadows.

Suddenly a window near the top of the building burst open revealing a man, woman, and two small children who were trapped in the burning building. This sent the crowd into a frenzy, shouting about the trapped family. Movement to the right caught the former acrobat's attention.

He watched with curiosity as a tall, well-built, black haired man snuck away from the crowd and into an alleyway. Moments later Superman just _happened_ to fly out of that same alley. They boy raised an eyebrow in amusement.

What a crazy _coincidence_.

'_Really?' _he thought. _'How it is that he even still _has_ a secret identity. I mean, combing his hair back and putting on a pair of glasses?'_ the boy snorted and shook his head.

He watched Superman save the citizens from the burning building before extinguishing the remaining flames as the crowd cheered. After some interviews and pictures Superman left the area. It wasn't long afterwards before the man from before came running over. He stopped panting lightly next to a woman who Dick recognized as Lois Lane – a well-known reporter who is often rescued by Superman.

"Clark, where have you been? You just missed Superman" the reporter exclaimed. The man – Clark – smiled in an almost dopey manner.

"Sorry Lois" he said apologetically. She shook her head in an amused manner.

"I swear Kent – you miss all of the big events somehow" Lois said.

"Yeah, I guess I do" he said sheepishly before following her through the crowd of people.

.

(Star City)

.

Dick passed through several cities and towns after leaving Metropolis, but didn't experience anything particularly noteworthy or interesting. That is, until he found himself on a random rooftop in Star City.

On a nearby rooftop stood Star City's very own Green Arrow. That's not what was interesting though.

Nope.

What caught his attention was the youth standing next to the green clad hero and holding a bow.

"That's interesting, since when did Green Arrow have a partner?" he muttered to himself. The former acrobat watched as the duo moved to continue their patrol.

'_I wonder why there's been no news about Green Arrow getting a partner. Though the boy can't be more than thirteen, maybe fourteen – is that why? Is he afraid of how the League would react to him taking on such a young partner and decided to keep it a secret?' _he pondered as he watched the heroes.

Shrugging and figuring that he had nothing better to do, the acrobat started to shadow the duo and see if he could find out more. Eventually he got close enough to hear their conversation.

"Alright Speedy, remember to stay out of sight as much as possible. I don't want the League hearing about you just yet" Green Arrow warned. Speedy scoffed.

'_Ha, I was right'_ their little stalker thought triumphantly.

"Yeah, yeah. I got it – you've only told me fifty times" the teen drawled. The older hero placed his hand on the boy's shoulder good naturedly.

"I know, I'm just a little nervous about how they'd react" Green Arrow said. The teen smirked.

"And I think you're overreacting Old Man" Speedy said in a teasing tone as he ran and jumped to the next rooftop.

"Hey, I'm not old!" Green Arrow called after him before following his protégé's lead.

Dick smiled and shook his head at their antics before turning to leave himself. He stopped upon seeing a large billboard with the image of one Oliver Queen. The boy raised an eyebrow and turned back in the direction the heroes had left in. He smiled and rolled his eyes.

'_The League really needs to work on this secret identity thing'_ he thought in amusement before disappearing into the shadows.

.

(Central City)

.

It had been almost two years since that day. Two years since he had watched his parents fall to their death. Dick Grayson had all but ceased to exist.

He had been officially declared dead by the Gotham Police Department a year after his disappearance. A gravestone bearing his name and the date of his birth and supposed death was placed next to his parents' – compliments of Mr. Bruce Wayne.

But all of this was old news. What everyone was talking about now was Kid Flash, young partner of the Flash, Central City's Scarlet Speedster.

Ironically – to him anyway - Green Arrow had officially announced his own partner not even a month later.

The boy turned into an alley set to continue on his way when a yellow blur crashed into him sending them both sprawling.

The blur, who he soon identified as Kid Flash, groaned as he pushed himself off the ground.

"Man, I really gotta work on stopping" the speedster muttered rubbing the back of his head. He apparently hadn't noticed that he used another person as a cushion in his fall. Kid Flash turned to leave and promptly tripped over the acrobat who was still on the ground.

"What in the…?" he started pulling himself up again and finally noticing that he wasn't alone in the alley. His eyes widened as Dick grunted and pushed himself into a sitting position.

"Ohmygosh, I'msosososososorry. Ididn'tseeyouthere, areyouok?" the speedster rambled out rapid fire. The ebony put a hand up to stop the flow of words.

"Dude, slow down – I can't understand you" Dick said. Kid Flash took a deep breath to calm himself.

"Sorry, didn't see you there. Are you ok?" he asked again at a slower pace.

"Yeah, I'm fine – just a little shaken up" Dick replied with a smile. The speedster visibly relaxed and sighed before standing straight and placing his hands on his hips.

"So, meeting me must be pretty overwhelming, huh?" Kid Flash asked.

"Yeah, it was whelming to be used as your personal airbag" the dark haired boy replied sarcastically.

"Whelming?" the speedster wondered. The acrobat smirked.

"Yeah – like not overwhelmed or underwhelmed, just whelmed" he explained.

"Whatever you say" the speedster replied skeptically.

"So…what are you doing running through alleys?" Dick asked raising his eyebrows. A look of shock crossed the speedster's face.

"Oh yeah, I was here with Flash taking down Captain Boomerang" he exclaimed. Kid Flash ran to the entrance of the alley in time to see Captain Boomerang being loaded into the back of a police vehicle.

"Looks like it's taken care of to me" Dick said, now standing directly beside the speedster. Kid Flash jumped with a shriek and spun around.

"Dude, you scream like a girl" Dick said with a snicker.

"Do not, you just surprised me" Kid Flash retorted.

"Whatever you have to tell yourself KF" the acrobat replied.

"KF?" the speedster asked furrowing his eyebrows.

"Yeah, Kid Flash – KF" Dick explained. A look of understanding crossed the young hero's face.

"Oh, cool. Well I gotta go. Flash is waiting for me" Kid Flash said.

"Alright, see ya" Dick said with a wave as the speedster zipped to his mentor's side.

.

(With Kid Flash and Flash)

"Hey there kiddo, where were you?" Flash asked.

"Oh, I was talking to this kid that I kinda used as an airbag – wait I didn't even ask him his name! I'll be right back" Kid Flash exclaimed before running back into the alley leaving an amused Flash behind him.

"Hey I totally forgot to ask, but what was your…" the speedster trailed off noticing that the boy was nowhere to be seen. "Name" he finished looking around in confusion.

'_What in the world. I was gone for less than thirty seconds'_ he thought stunned.

.

Dick remained hidden in the shadows as the speedster returned asking for his name. He smiled sadly as Kid Flash turned and left.

'_Sorry KF, but I no longer have a name to give' _he thought. Dick turned and left the alley, disappearing into the crowds of people on the street.

'_It's about time that I found a new name and a more permanent place to live. These cities are nice, but they're just a bit too _happy_ for me'_ he thought somewhat bitterly.

'_I guess I should head back to where it all started - Gotham.' _

.

***blinks***

**This chapter's pretty long…well by my standards anyhow. It's pretty much just a build-up for the main story – just like the last two. Hopefully it's better than the last one, though – I just don't know how to show someone going crazy… I just heaped a bunch of stuff on him – childhood trauma from a scary movie, being followed through the forest at night, being unable to kill whatever is following you, your assailant looking like the son of the couple you just killed (and I don't care who you are, killing people is going to affect you a little unless you're totally insane). Oh well.**

**Yeah, so Batman didn't find Dick because he pretty much immediately left Gotham**

**I kinda had fun with the meeting Kid Flash thing n_n**

**Without Robin I had to have some way for the sidekicks/partners to start up. I didn't write it in the story, but it's kind of like this: Wally replicated Flash's experiment so Barry pretty much had to take him on as an apprentice which gave Green Arrow the confidence to tell the world 'bout Speedy. Aqualad of course comes soon after, though I won't have anything about that in the story. **

**BYE!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer**: I don't claim any of this; it's not mine so I would only be lying to you if I did

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

'_Sorry KF, but I no longer have a name to give' _he thought. Dick turned and left the alley, disappearing into the crowds of people on the street.

'_It's about time that I found a new name and a more permanent place to live. These cities are nice, but they're just a bit too _happy_ for me'_ he thought somewhat bitterly.

'_I guess I should head back to where it all started - Gotham.' _

.

Chapter 4

A shadowed figure moved silently across the rooftops in one of the shadier parts of Gotham. If any of the people lurking in the alleys below had looked up they may have seen this person jumping between buildings with the occasional flip or flourish as he seemed to fly through the air.

If someone _had_ looked up they would know who it was immediately and most likely hightail it out of there.

No one wanted to catch _his_ attention.

He was called Karasu and that was pretty much the only thing that anyone really knew about him. He had appeared seemingly out of nowhere two years ago and was at the top of the food chain in less than a month. That means he came and defeated every well known mob boss or criminal underground leader in the area. Now he was the one who controlled this part of town – not that he seemed to have any underlings of his own though.

No one really got a good look at him. He always seemed to be half in the shadows when he actually showed himself.

From putting together what they could see he wore mostly black. He had a black ninja-like mask that covered the bottom half of his face along with his neck. His top was also black, but had red trim that came down his collar and continued down his torso where it branched out in a simple pattern around his lower stomach. The base of his neck and top of his chest was covered in a yellow mesh. He had three tilted red belts and a single yellow belt that held a long dagger around his hips. His pants were also black and there was a red pouch strapped to his right leg. His boots were black with gray soles and red details and he wore red gloves with yellow details. A yellow mask-like accessory sat above his eyes covering his eyebrows and came down the bridge of his nose. His eyes were uncovered, but did not look natural. They were purple around the pupil, but eventually changed to blue. To finish it off, he wore a feathery black scarf around his neck that bled to red at its ends.

Karasu sighed as he somersaulted across a rooftop.

'_I'm bored'_ he thought dejectedly. The criminals in the area had stopped trying to take him down and accepted that he was top dog. Apparently they finally figured out that they couldn't defeat him. They might be able to if they joined together, but they were far too stubborn to do so.

He was about to head home for the night when a disturbing cackle filled the air. Karasu ran to the edge of the roof and looked down just in time to see Joker walk into an abandoned building next to the one he was on.

'_What is Joker doing in the part of Gotham?'_ he wondered furrowing his eyebrows.

'_Well, I can't have him running amuck in my territory. Now, what to do with psychotic clowns that are up to no good…Ah I know'_ he thought with a smirk.

.

(The Batcave)

The Batmobile pulled into the cave signifying that the Dark Knight had returned from patrol. Batman was heading to the changing area when his computer monitor started flashing and went dark. A red feather appeared with a message below it.

"**A clown is messing around on my turf. I don't want him here, don't particularly like him. Come collect your psycho while he's still in one piece"**

Alfred walked up to Batman with a tray of tea. He glanced at Batman who seemed to be conflicted about something then turned to read the message on the screen.

"Oh my, who sent this?" he asked. Batman didn't answer, still seeming to be making some sort of decision.

"Sir, you do have to save him, even if he is your enemy" Alfred said reading Batman's expressions. Batman sighed.

"Yeah, I know" he relented.

"Indeed, so who is it that sent this message?" Alfred asked again.

"I don't know, but I've seen the red feather before" Batman replied.

"Where have you seen it Master Bruce?" Alfred asked.

"At the scenes of a few crimes – all that is left is a red feather and no further evidence to track the perpetrator down" Batman answered while messing with the computer.

"How exactly did this person send you a message?" Alfred asked.

"He hacked into my communications to send it. That's all he went into though, didn't even try to get any information" Batman replied.

"He must be quite skilled" Alfred remarked. Batman nodded gravely as he pulled up video surveillance of Joker breaking out of Arkham and later robbing a bank.

"So he really is back out, that's odd he usually stays in Arkham for at least two weeks before escaping again – it's only been five days since I put him in there" Batman said. He wasn't sure if he could trust this person to be telling the truth, but apparently he was. Suddenly the screen went black and the red feather reappeared with a new message.

"**What? Not trust me? I don't blame you."**

Batman narrowed his eyes slightly and sent a message of his own on the frequency that the hacker was using.

"**Who are you?"**

He didn't have to wait long for a reply from the mysterious person.

"**You haven't heard of me? I'm insulted – you're the detective, figure it out. Tick tock, you better hurry – the clown's incessant laughter is starting to get on my nerves."**

With that final message the frequency the hacker was using totally vanished. Batman had managed to pinpoint the general location of where the frequency was being emitted before it cut off.

.

(30 minutes later – abandoned building)

Batman burst into the building that Joker was using taking the psychotic clown by surprise. Batman knocked the villain out fairly quickly before handcuffing him and throwing him into the back of the Batmobile.

Joker had been building a massive bomb, if he hadn't found out about it before the clown had finished Gotham would have been thrown into chaos.

The Dark Knight went back into the building to find the money that Joker had stolen. After a while he found a door with and dollar sign painted in bright green on it. The Bat rolled his eyes at Joker's idiocy before opening the door.

At first the room looks empty, which couldn't be right because he searched the entire building and the money wasn't in any of the other rooms. He searched the room a little more thoroughly and found a red feather. Batman sighs and placed the feather in a spare compartment of his utility belt before leaving to take Joker back to Arkham.

.

(Two days later)

Steve Williams, a teller at the bank Joker had stolen $50,000 from two days earlier arrived at work a little before opening. When he walked into the bank he froze.

In the middle of the bank lobby was a pile of money bags with a red feather on top. He immediately called his boss, John Blathers, who rushed in. Upon counting the money they came up with $34,876.

"Where's the rest?" John asked.

"I don't know, but why return this?" Steve wondered.

.

Karasu smiled eyeing his new $15,124 customized red and black motorcycle. He stroked his hand across the sleek bike reverently and smiled even wider.

"Nice"

.

**I can't describe stuff, so I drew a picture (poorly) of what Karasu looks like based loosely on how Robin looks in the show. I'm gonna put it on deviant art under my username Rictah (Ricta was taken so I added an h :D) I'll put a link in the next chapter, but it should be up pretty soon if you want to go and find it. I'm just gonna call it Karasu: A Lone Bird.**

**Oh! And I'll explain the name Karasu later n_n**

…**anyone notice that read (pronounced reed) and read (pronounced red) are spelled the same? Isn't that kinda confusing? I mean I could write "I read a book" and without context it could be either present or past tensed. Think about it, someone asks you "what do you do when you get home?" and you might answer "I read (reed) a book" or they could ask "what did you do when you got home yesterday?" to which you respond "I read (red) a book"**

**Sorry, just something that was bugging me when I was writing this.**

**BYE!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer**: I don't own this. I just don't.

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

_Karasu smiled eyeing his new $15,124 customized red and black motorcycle. He stroked his hand across the sleek bike reverently and smiled even wider. _

"_Nice"_

.

Chapter 5

It had been nearly eight months and Batman had yet to actually see the person who had managed to hack into his computer, though he had found out his name. He went by Karasu and he had apparently claimed a section of Gotham as his own. It definitely warranted some looking into, but today he couldn't worry about that. Today was the day that the League invited the sidekicks - Kid Flash, Speedy, and Aqualad - to their headquarters in Washington DC.

Little did he know that a certain bird had followed him to the League HQ.

Karasu was in his civilian attire, dark skinny jeans, black and white converse, a green hoody with a black jacket, and dark sunglasses (yeah, what he wears on the show). He didn't want to take the chance that someone might recognize him as the boy that supposedly died four years ago.

He watched from the visitor's platform and had to stifle his laughter when Speedy threw a tantrum slamming his little yellow hat on the ground and stomping out.

Superman called informing the Leaguers present about a fire at the Cadmus lab nearby. Batman expressed interest in this case before Zatara called with an urgent blocking-out-the-sun mission requiring all Leaguers. Batman turned to the two younger heroes.

"Stay put" he ordered before leaving.

"We should have left with Speedy" Kid Flash said dejectedly after awhile. "I mean, they never even told us that they had a headquarters in space" he continued. Aqualad looked conflicted before seeming to come to a conclusion.

"What is…Project Cadmus?" he asked. The speedster shrugged. Suddenly the League computer began to flash and a red feather appeared before all of the information the League had on Cadmus came up.

The other tourists had left after the Leaguers did leaving Dick in the viewing area by himself. He used a wireless signal to hack the Justice League computers and brought up the information.

"Come on, take the bait" he murmured watching the two young heroes closely. Kid Flash blinked dumbly at the computer before zipping over and reading over the limited information.

"How did this happen?" he asked referring to the computer suddenly coming to life and giving them the information they were curious about.

"I do not know, but the League does not seem to have much on Cadmus" Aqualad replied.

"I think we should check it out" Kid Flash said excitedly.

"But Batman said to stay here" Aqualad said hesitantly.

"Aww, come on – he just meant the mission Zatara was talking about, he didn't say anything about this" Kid Flash said.

"It would be poetic justice" the Atlantian said with a small smirk. Kid Flash's eyes lit up.

"Does that mean we're doing this?" he asked. Aqualad nodded causing the speedster to cry out in joy and fist pump the air.

"Let's do this!" he exclaimed.

Karasu smiled smugly before heading towards Cadmus himself.

.

(Several minutes later – Cadmus lab)

The young heroes arrived and Kid Flash ran ahead to save the two scientists that were falling out a window.

Kid Flash managed to get the scientists onto the roof before slipping to hang precariously from the window sill. Aqualad came and helped the men get to the ground and pulled Kid Flash into the building.

.

Karasu snuck into a nearby building and used his holographic computer to pull up the surveillance cameras in the Cadmus building. It didn't take long since he had been hacking into Cadmus for awhile.

When he started it had purely been out of boredom and he was surprised at how big the place actually was. After awhile he discovered that they were cloning Superman. The acrobat decided that he was going to find a way to get the clone rescued because no one deserved to live their life in a pod.

Now the time for that rescue had come, Aqualad and Kid Flash would be perfect to save the young clone - with a little help of course.

.

The Atlantian walked into the hallway in time to see a strange creature get into the elevator. When the heroes went to investigate they found that the elevator shaft extended further down than they could see.

"Why would a two-story building need something like this?" Kid Flash asked.

"I do not know. Shall we investigate?" Aqaualad asked. Kid Flash nodded and they began to climb carefully down eventually opening another set of doors and entering a hallway. The duo walked into a large room full of strange creatures.

"What is this?" Kid Flash asked awestruck at the horde of electric genomorphs powering the lab.

"I do not know" Aqualad answered.

"Hey, what do you think you're – Kid Flash? Aqualad? What are you doing here?" Guardian asked as he burst in.

"Guardian, why are you here?" Aqualad asked.

"Security. Now why-" the older hero started before gripping his head. He went into a trance-like state before ordering the genomorphs to attack.

The young heroes fought off some of the creatures before running out of the room.

Kid Flash and Aqualad rushed around a corner coming to an elevator door. The speedster repeatedly pressed the elevator button, but nothing happened.

They backed up into the door as the genomorphs rounded the corner. Suddenly the elevator doors opened and the young heroes fell backwards into the elevator. The doors closed just before the creatures made it to them.

"Well that was lucky" Kid Flash said.

"Indeed" Aqualad agreed. They stood for a moment catching their breath when Kid Flash looked up to the floor display in shock.

"We're going down, why are we going down?" he questioned frantically.

"I do not know, perhaps we should call the League?" Aqualad asked hesitantly. The doors opened revealing a grotesque and almost organic looking hallway.

"Yeah, I think we should" Kid Flash agreed looking around. Aqualad nodded, but before he could make the call the strange creature he had seen before appeared and started to attack them. They ran down one hallway coming to a large door that had "Project Kr" printed on it. They made it inside just as the door closed.

What they saw shocked them.

"These guys are cloning Superman?" Kid Flash asked in a stunned voice.

"It would appear so" Aqualad replied calmly.

"I get why it's called project Kr - big K little R is the atomic symbol for Krypton" the speedster said. The Atlantian nodded.

"I am going to call the League" he said.

"Yeah, that's a good idea" Kid Flash replied.

"Aqualad to League…nothing, I must not have a signal" Aqualad stated.

"Well I think we should free him" Kid Flash said with a pointed look in the clone's direction.

"I agree" Aqualad replied.

After much trial-and-error they managed to free the clone who promptly started to attack them.

.

When they woke up they were in pods similar to the one they had freed the clone from. Said clone was staring at them unblinking.

"Stop staring, it's creeping me out" Kid Flash exclaimed.

"Kid Flash" Aqualad murmured in a scolding tone.

"What? He's the one that captured us" Kid Flash retorted.

"Perhaps he was not in control of his actions" Aqualad replied.

"Wha-What if I wasn't?" the clone asked hesitantly.

"He can talk?" Kid Flash asked incredulously.

"Yes. _He_ can." The clone replied resentfully.

"It's not like I said it" the speedster muttered. Suddenly the door opened allowing Dr. Desmond, Guardian, and a female scientist to enter.

"What is the clone doing out of its pod" Dr. Desmond demanded. Guardian tried to defend the clone, but was put into that trance-like state again exclaiming that the clone deserved to be put back in its cage.

A genomorph hopped onto the clone's shoulder and he left the room.

"Begin the cloning process" Dr. Desmond ordered. Kid Flash and Aqualad's eyes widened as several needles were inserted into their chests drawing out blood as they were electrocuted.

Suddenly the clone burst back into the room taking down the scientists and Guardian

"You here to save us or fry us?" Kid Flash asked. The clone squinted his eyes as if trying to do the latter.

"I don't seem to have heat vision, so I guess saving is my only option" he replied. He smashed the glass covering of the pods and broke the shackles holding the two heroes.

The trio rushed out of the room as Dr. Desmond and Guardian were getting up.

.

Karasu rolled his eyes.

"Idiots" he muttered before making the capsules holding KF and Aqualad's blood explode, getting rid of the DNA.

.

The small group encountered some giant genomorphs which the clone fought before Aqualad pulled open a nearby elevator door and they climbed up a few floors and opening a new set of doors.

They started running down a series of hallways following the clone's lead and ended up at a dead end.

"Nice directions" Kid Flash exclaimed angrily. They could hear the genomorphs approaching and looked around frantically trying to find a way to escape.

"There, we can use the air vents" Aqualad said pointing to a vent cover. They crawled through the vents coming out near a set of stairs.

In a bathroom in another section of the building two genomorphs fell from the air vents onto Dr. Desmond.

"They hacked the motion sensors?" Dr. Desmond asked incredulously.

.

Karasu smirked.

"cameras and heat sensors, too" he stated smugly.

.

The trio continued to run from the genomorphs before encountering Dr. Desmond who proceeded to inject himself with Blockbuster Formula and transformed into a grotesque monster.

The clone started to fight him, but the Blockbuster monster grabbed him and they crashed up through the ceiling. Aqualad grabbed Kid Flash and jumped up through the resulting hole.

They fought the monster and eventually the building collapsed around them knocking the transformed Dr. Desmond out.

Karasu watched them fight until the collapse of the building destroyed the cameras he was watching through.

"Not bad" he commented slipping away from the scene, but not without leaving a small parting gift.

.

When the League arrived they found three teens sitting in a pile of rubble. While Superman was having a heart attack about his clone, Batman moved off to the side and picked up a red feather.

'_Just what are you up to?'_ he wondered.

.

**Link to picture of Karasu promised last chapter: **

**h-t-t-p : / . / rictah. deviantart-.-com-/ art / Karasu-A-Lone-Bird-309370513**

**(instructions for using the link: remove all hiphens [-] and spaces (except those in Karasu-A-Lone-Bird-309370513, they belong there). Get rid of the period between the two slashes after the colon [:] in the beginning****)**

**You don't want to KNOW how long it took to get this freakin' thing to keep the whole link. I tried like a million different ways before I got to what's there. Fanfiction was all like "no worries, I got this" and removed random parts of the link and I'm just thinking _'no, I need _all _of it'_**

**_*_flails arms around***

**It's so frustrating! I tried different ways for like 10 minutes...**

***sigh* if it's not there when you read it just tell me and I'll put the link in my profile or something**

**I tried to keep somewhat to the episode for this, but I did it off memory so sorry if any of those parts are off. I also cut off a few things that I didn't want to deal with – like when Dubbilex knocked them out so he could talk with Superboy.**

**I was mainly using this to explain how the team came to be without Robin because, seriously, it wouldn't have happened had Robin not been there.**

**This chapter is six pages on my word document. SIX PAGES! That's like, way long for me.**

**Oh well, hope you all enjoy ~**

**BYE!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer**: I don't own this, just in case you had forgotten

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

_When the League arrived they found three teens sitting in a pile of rubble. While Superman was having a heart attack about his clone, Batman moved off to the side and picked up a red feather._

'_Just what are you up to?' he wondered._

.

Chapter 6

The heroes had just finished getting Mt. Justice up and running again. The Young Justice team was created and consisted of Kid Flash, Aqualad, the clone now known as Superboy, and Martian Manhunter's niece Miss Martian. The adult heroes present included Batman, Superman, Black Canary, Flash, Green Arrow, and Red Tornado. Batman was explaining how the team was going to work when the monitor behind him went blank and a red feather appeared.

"Hey it's that feather thing again" Kid Flash commented.

"You've seen this before?" Batman asked.

"Yeah, back at the HQ in DC, it appeared before the information the League had on Cadmus came up" the speedster explained.

"I see" Batman replied as a message appeared below the feather.

"**Hey Bats**"

"This person knows you?" Flash asked furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

"Somewhat" Batman replied.

"Somewhat" the older speedster mimicked, clearly not impressed.

"I've only spoken to him through messages" Batman explained as he brought up a holographic keyboard to send a reply message.

"**Karasu**"

"Karasu?" Kid Flash asked, but he was ignored because a new message appeared on the screen.

"**Oh, you know my name now, I'm honored**"

Batman rolled his eyes, not that anyone could see the action as it was hidden by his cowl.

"**How did you hack the Justice League computers?**"

"He hacked the League?" Superman asked.

"Yes, were you not listening when Kid Flash said he'd seen the feather at DC" Batman said. Superman looked appropriately sheepish.

"**Are you insulting me? The League uses the same system as the Batcave**"

"This guy's hacked the Batcave?" Flash asked with a note of disbelief in his voice.

"Yes" Batman replied shortly, typing another message.

"**How did you know about this server?"**

"Hey, that's right. We just started the computers here like an hour ago" Green Arrow said.

"**Saw it start up when I was playing with the League's files – figured it was you**"

"He was _playing_ with the League files" Superman said incredulously.

"He does that" Batman stated.

"But there's a lot of sensitive information in there" Black Canary said with concern.

"Yes, there is – but he doesn't access it" Batman said.

"How do you know that?" Green Arrow demanded. Batman sent him a quick glare.

"Because when he hacks into the Batcave he only goes into a few mission files and some of the villain profiles and before you ask, I know this because I can track where he goes" Batman replied, slightly miffed that they would underestimate his abilities.

"I still don't like it" the archer said. Batman sighed.

"Would you feel better if I asked him what he was doing?" Batman asked as if trying to pacify a child.

"Yes" Green Arrow grumbled.

"**Why were you messing with League information?**"

It didn't take long for a reply to appear.

"**I was bored**"

"What the heck?" Green Arrow asked reading the message.

"Happy?" Batman asked with a raised eyebrow. The archer didn't respond.

"**What's your goal?**"

"Why'd you ask him that?" Kid Flash asked.

"He had to have some reason to send you and Aqualad to Cadmus" Batman replied.

"**Complete**"

Batman sighed and rephrased his question.

"**Then what was it?**"

Karasu's next message appeared quickly.

"**The clone**"

"Me?" Superboy asked.

"Apparently" Batman replied sending another message.

"**What about him?**"

"How did he know about Superboy?" Aqualad asked.

"In all likelihood… he was hacking Cadmus" the Dark Knight replied.

"What?" Superman asked.

"Do you seriously think he spends all of his time hacking me and the League?" Batman asked as the next message appeared,

"**Freeing him**"

"He wanted to free me?" Superboy asked in surprise.

"Maybe he found out about you and sympathized or something" Black Canary said.

"Why don't you ask him?" Green Arrow suggested looking at Batman. The Dark Knight rolled his eyes beneath his cowl and typed the message.

"**Why?**"

The answer came quickly.

"**I believe that is my business, not yours**"

Batman had to keep himself from smirking when the message appeared and the archer spluttered in an undignified manner.

"W-why didn't he answer that question, he's answered all of the others" he exclaimed.

While the archer ranted the Dark Knight sent his next message.

"**Why are you contacting me?**"

"That's right, why'd he even send that first message?" Kid Flash asked. The other heroes nodded in agreement with the exception of Batman and Red Tornado.

"**Thought you'd have some questions**"

"Questions about what?" Superman asked.

"His involvement in the Cadmus incident" Batman answered sending his next question.

"**And you wanted to answer them?**"

The answer arrived quickly.

"**Come now, it wouldn't be any fun if you knew nothing about me**"

"What's with this guy?" Kid Flash asked.

"I don't know Kid, I've never met anyone like this" Flash answered. Batman decidedly ignored the speedsters and continued his electronic conversation.

"**Where are you?**"

Karasu's answer came almost as soon as Batman hit send.

"**Home**"

"Wow, that was descriptive" Green Arrow said sarcastically. Batman sent him a quick glare before turning his attention back to what he was doing.

"**Where's home?**"

The answer that came wasn't what he or any of the others present expected.

"**Where the heart is**"

Batman glared at the message as it appeared. Flash snorted in amusement.

"I like this guy" he said.

It wasn't long before a new message came indicating that Karasu knew that the Dark Knight wasn't going to respond to the last one.

"**Can't take a joke? Fine – I'm in Gotham of course**"

"He lives in Gotham?" Superman asked.

"Yes and he apparently has a territory" Batman replied.

"How do you know that?" Black Canary asked.

"The first time he contacted me it was about Joker being on his 'turf' and when I got there, he had stolen the money that Joker took from a bank earlier that day" Batman explained.

"He stole from Joker? Who does that?" Kid Flash asked in shock as Batman sent his next question.

"**Where?**"

"Why do you want to know where?" Green Arrow asked. He was promptly ignored as the answer appeared.

"**Why? You coming to see me?**"

"He's not seriously gonna tell where he is - is he?" Kid Flash asked.

"Hard to tell, this guy seems to have a few odd quirks" Flash said. Batman sent a new message

"**Perhaps**"

Karasu's next message came quickly.

"**Oh, how exciting – I'm around your usual perch**"

Suddenly the computer exploded surprising most of the heroes in the room. Only Batman and Red Tornado didn't jump, because nothing surprises Batman and Red Tornado is… Red Tornado.

"What the heck!" Kid Flash exclaimed.

"It would appear the computer spontaneously combusted" Red Tornado explained in his monotonous voice.

"Umm, yeah…thanks" the younger speedster said. Batman turned to leave the room, but was stopped by Superman.

"Where are you going?" the Kryptonian asked.

"To meet him" Batman replied.

"You're going to meet the guy who hacked the League, the _Batcave_, and somehow blew up the computer here?" Superman asked incredulously.

"I was going to replace this computer anyway" Batman replied.

"That's not the point!" Superman cried throwing his hands into the air in exasperation.

"Then what is?" Batman asked, his patience waning.

"This guy is dangerous" the Man of Steel said. Batman turned giving him a deadpanned look before leaving through the zeta tubes.

"Right" Superman said with a sigh to the empty space in front of him. "Why would you care if this guy was dangerous?"

.

(Gotham City, roof of Wayne Tech)

When Batman arrived he found Karasu standing on the edge of the building gazing at the city. _'He's a lot smaller than I thought he'd be. He looks like he's twelve – maybe thirteen, but his small stature makes it difficult to tell' _Batman thought.

"Batman" the bird greeted without turning his eyes from the skyline.

"Karasu" Batman replied walking over to stand next to the hacker.

"So, we finally meet mask to cowl" Karasu stated with a hidden smirk.

"Yes, I wanted to ask you some things in person, without an audience" Batman said.

"Ask away, but I won't promise an answer to each question" the acrobat replied. Batman nodded.

"How old are you Karasu?" the Dark Knight asked.

"Older than I should be" Karasu replied cryptically. They stood in silence for a moment then Karasu sent Batman a sideways glance. "But you know what that's like, don't you B.W.?" he added quietly. Batman managed to keep his expression neutral, but inside his thoughts were raging.

'_How does he know who I am? How did he figure it out? I haven't even really found a clue about his identity' _he thought. He was surprised to find that he was not worried that Karasu was going to use his identity against him. _'Why would I trust him like that?'_ he wondered. The Dark Knight decided to push these thoughts back for later – because he would definitely have to get back to it - and continue his…interview.

"How long have you been at this?" He asked. Karasu closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath and exhaled.

"Four years" he stated.

"Four years? I've only heard about you for a few months" Batman said.

"I haven't always been in Gotham" Karasu clarified. Batman nodded slightly.

"Where else have you been?" he asked.

"Oh, here and there. Though I spent some time in Metropolis, Central City, and Star City" Karasu replied.

"And you never ran into Superman, Flash, Green or Red Arrow?" Batman asked. Karasu raised an eyebrow.

"Red Arrow?" he asked.

"Speedy quit being Green Arrow's…partner" Batman replied.

"Yeah, I know, didn't know he had a new name though" Karasu chuckled lightly. "Not very creative, is he?" Batman simply hummed in response.

"To answer your question - yes I saw them, but they never saw me…you should really tell them to be more careful with their _secret_ identities" the acrobat said putting emphasis on the word 'secret.'

"You know their identities as well?" Batman asked raising an eyebrow behind his cowl.

"Yes, well seeing that Clark's disguise is a pair of glasses and brushing that lock hair back, and Oliver has the distinctive goatee, not to mention that he answered a call from his company once while he was on patrol. To be honest, Barry was the second most difficult to figure out since he actually hides his features" Karasu explained.

"The second? Then who was the most difficult?" Batman asked. The bird turned to the Bat with his head tilted slightly to one side.

"You" he replied. They were both quiet for a while, staring out into Gotham.

"I suppose that you know I've been trying to find your identity" Batman stated.

"Yep" Karasu replied popping the 'p.'

"You don't make it easy" Batman stated thinking of how little is ever left at any crime site related to the young teen standing next to him.

"No" Karasu replied in an amused tone. They relapsed into silence for a few moments. Finally the Dark Knight broke it.

"Why did you really save the clone?" he asked. Karasu turned to him.

"Was Green Arrow unsatisfied with my previous answer?" he asked. Batman raised an eyebrow.

"How did you know it was Green Arrow?" he asked wondering if Karasu had set up cameras in the mountain… no, that wasn't possible – they just got the place going again _today_.

"I guessed" Karasu replied with a shrug. "But to answer your question, I've been hacking Cadmus for awhile – which I'm sure you already realized – and I didn't like how they … kept him, I guess? The scientists constantly kept him cooped up in that pod force feeding him information" he paused for a moment then continued, "I guess it's just a pet peeve of mine…my lifestyle's always been kind of free so I don't like seeing the freedom of others taken away when they can't do anything about it."

"And if they can?" Batman asked. Karasu shrugged with a dismissive snort.

"They're on their own" he retorted.

"Ah, I see" Batman replied with some amusement. The boy was strange. "Then tell me, why does it seem like you appeared out of nowhere?" the Dark Knight asked.

"That's because I don't exist" Karasu answered before flinging himself from the roof. Batman watched as he pulled out a grappling hook and disappeared into the city.

.

**Long again - this one's 2000 words! I was shooting for about 1500 per chapter for this story, so I've been meeting my quota plus some :D**

**Crazy**

**Oh well, what are ya gonna do - right?**

**Sorry that it's taken so long to update, I kept changin' stuff about this chapter and rewriting it...**

**yeah**

**While I was typing this my dogs decided to have a fight on my keyboard I_I **

**Pissed me off **

**Anyway that's just a little tid-bit on my life**

**BYE!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Young Justice

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

"_Ah, I see" Batman replied with some amusement. The boy was strange. "Then tell me, why does it seem like you appeared out of nowhere?" the Dark Knight asked._

"_That's because I don't exist" Karasu answered before flinging himself from the roof. Batman watched as he pulled out a grappling hook and disappeared into the city._

.

Chapter 7

It had been nearly a week since Batman and Karasu met on the rooftop of Wayne Industries in Gotham. That last statement from the hacker had been bothering him. What did he mean that he didn't exist? Obviously he exists seeing as he is _there, _but he said it like it had something to do with his true identity. But what does it mean?

The Dark Knight shook these thoughts from his head as he arrived at Mt. Justice.

"Team, report to the mission room" Batman ordered as he passed the kitchen and living room. Artemis, who had joined recently, was cleaning her arrows; Kaldur, Wally and Conner were watching TV, and M'gann was baking - as per usual. When they heard Batman they immediately stood and followed him.

When they arrived Batman waved his hand through the air and a holographic keyboard appeared. He typed something and some images of chemical formulas appeared.

"Hey, that's the blockbuster formula" Kid Flash exclaimed. Superboy growled remembering his time trapped in Cadmus.

"Yes, someone is smuggling samples of the substance into Gotham. They could be trying to mass produce it or even make it more powerful. I want the team to figure out who is buying it and what they are doing" Batman said.

The team nodded.

"You're trusting us in Gotham?" Kid Flash asked. Batman stared at him until the speedster started to feel uncomfortable.

"…"

"…"

"Barely" the Dark Knight finally answered when Kid Flash was close to simply fleeing the room altogether.

"We shall be…mindful of our actions in your city" Aqualad said respectfully. Batman turned to the Atlantian.

"Good, now go" he ordered.

Kid Flash was quick to leave the room and the intimidating dark clad hero in his dust. He didn't want to risk staying any longer and possibly upsetting the man.

What? Batman scares him – a lot.

Artemis smirked as she watched the speedster run out of the room. She and the rest of the team followed the yellow and red blur to board the bioship.

The ride to Gotham was like all of their others – Artemis and Wally got into an argument which was promptly stopped by Aqualad. The rest of the trip was silent.

When they arrived the team disembarked and gathered around Aqualad. From where they were hidden the teens could occasionally see people, guards most likely, walking past the windows of the building.

"Kid, Artemis do a perimeter check; Kid to the west and Artemis to the east, when you are finished regroup and join the rest of the team inside. M'gann, Superboy and I will go inside and see if we can find out what is happening. M'gann set up the link if you would" Aqualad said quietly. The others nodded and left to complete their assigned tasks.

.

Kid Flash was running and checking out his side of the area when he suddenly tripped landing smack on his face.

He hadn't fallen due to clumsiness, however. The reason he had tripped was that he noticed someone sitting on a crate half hidden in the shadows. This had distracted him long enough to not notice the rock that was directly in his path.

"You trying to make friends with the ground?" Karasu asked innocently while tilting his head to the side. Kid Flash grunted and pushed himself up.

"Yeah, I want to be best friends with it" he replied sarcastically after realizing that the person was not going to attack him. Or at least, he didn't seem like he was going to. Kid Flash kept his guard partially up just in case.

"Well I can tell you - that's not the best way to go about it. I mean straight from acquaintances to kissing - don't you think you two are moving a little fast?" the acrobat asked with a smirk hidden beneath his mask. The speedster just glared at Karasu while brushing the dirt off his suit.

"Who are you and what are you even doing here?" He asked bitterly, looking over his uniform for any damage. There were some smudges of dirt, but nothing too bad. Karasu blinked at him in apparent confusion.

"Karasu, and this is my operation, so I think I should be asking _you_ that" The bird replied. The speedster's head shot back up in shock to look where Karasu had been sitting. He was gone.

"That was Karasu?" he wondered. "How did he do that?" the speedster exclaimed as an afterthought.

'_Guys!' _Kid Flash called through the mental link.

'_Did you find something?'_ Aqualad asked.

'_Yeah, I know who's behind this'_ the speedster replied.

'_Well, who is it?'_ Aqualad asked.

'_Karasu'_ Kid Flash answered.

'_You mean that guy who hacked the cave?' _Artemis asked having been told of the incident since joining.

'_Yeah – he's way different from what I expected; I mean he's really young. Around our age I think. And he didn't seem evil – just sort of sarcastic. But his eyes are seriously creepy – they start purple near the pupil and eventually turn to blue and he was dressed like a ninja or something with this weird feathery scarf'_ Kid Flash explained.

'_Really? That is kinda strange' _Artemis replied trying to picture it in her head.

'_What does this Karasu person want with the Blockbuster formula?' _Aqualad wondered pulling them back to the focus of the mission.

'_Oh, right – sorry. I'm coming inside now'_ Kid Flash said.

'_Yeah, me too' _Artemis added.

.

When Kid Flash and Artemis rejoined the group they continued on to investigate. As they went further into the building they noticed that there wasn't anyone there. No thugs, no Karasu - nobody at all.

"What the heck is going on?" Kid Flash asked in confusion.

"Yeah, where is everybody?" Miss Martian wondered. The others shrugged. They continued to look through the rooms of the building. Everyone had just disappeared – granted that they only saw a couple of guards and Karasu, but still.

Upon entering one room – the one that was supposed to hold the Blockbuster formula – Artemis noticed something.

"Hey, what's that?" she asked staring at an object sitting on a piece of paper in the middle of the room. Kid Flash zipped over and picked it up.

"A red feather?" the speedster asked.

"It is similar to the symbol that appeared when he hacked the League computers" Aqualad stated.

"Oh yeah, I remember that" Miss Martian said. Kid Flash glanced down noticing the paper that the feather had been on.

"What's this?" he muttered picking it up.

"**Aww, looks like you were too late to see what I was doing. Oh well. Tell Bats I said hi~**

**P.S. don't rush things with that new 'friend' or yours Flash Boy – sorry - Kid Flash"**

"I think I hate this guy" Kid Flash announced in a monotone voice. "And how does he do this disappearing thing?" he added in a more animated tone.

"Who's this friend?" Artemis asked suggestively with a smirk.

"I tripped and fell face first on the ground" the speedster replied bitterly causing Artemis to snicker.

"Shut up, it was his fault" Kid Flash retorted.

"I'm sure" the archer drawled.

"Why did he write Kid Flash's name wrong if he knew it?" Miss Martian asked interrupting a fight before it could start.

"He was messing with him" Artemis explained.

"Oh, I see" the Martian replied.

"Come team, let us return" Aqualad said slightly disappointed that they couldn't find more. At least they figured out who was behind it.

.

(Back at Mt. Justice)

Batman was working on the computer at Mt. Justice. Flash was there telling him about something, but the Dark Knight was ignoring him. The speedster didn't seem to notice as he continued to prattle on.

"Team report" Batman ordered as the teens entered the mission room.

"We found that Karasu was behind it, but he vanished before we could find what he was doing. All that we found was a red feather and a note" Aqualad stated.

"What did the note say?" Batman asked. Kid Flash handed him the note. The Dark Knight sighed reading the first part of the note and raised an eyebrow at the second. He looked over Kid Flash noticing small amounts of dirt on the front of his costume.

'_Must have tripped and face planted on the ground'_ he thought figuring out what happened easily; he was a detective after all.

"I'll look into it, you are dismissed" Batman said. The team nodded and left to do whatever they normally do.

Batman turned back to the computer.

"So who was this guy again?" Flash inquired.

"He's called Karasu" Batman said without looking away from the screen.

'What kind of name is that?" Flash asked.

"It's Japanese for crow, but can also mean raven or blackbird. He might be using it as a reference to the Karasu Tengu – a bird-like creature of Japanese myth. They are known as patrons of martial arts and thus powerful warriors." Batman replied.

"Okay…then who is he?" Flash asked expectantly.

"Don't know" Batman replied.

"…"

"…"

"…what?" Flash asked uncertainly

"I don't know" Batman repeated.

"He's been here for a year and _you_ don't know who he is?" the speedster asked skeptically.

"No" Batman said. "But he knows who we are." The Flash blinked once, twice, then

"WHAT?"

.

**Well… so that's a chapter.**

**Gah, I'm tired right now and really don't know what to put here. You guys are lucky I even finished this.**

**BYE!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer**: I no more own young justice than I own a herd of fire breathing, seven-legged unicorns, which I don't. And I don't particularly want to. Too much responsibility - who knows what kind of damage they'd cause.

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

"_He's been here for a year and you don't know who he is?" the speedster asked skeptically._

"_No" Batman said. "But he knows who we are." The Flash blinked once, twice, then_

"_WHAT?"_

.

Chapter 8

"He knows who we are" Batman repeated blandly.

"What do you mean he knows who we are? How? I thought you said he never accessed that information in the League database!" Flash exclaimed throwing his hands into the air.

"He didn't use the League database" Batman replied. Flash stared at him opening and closing his mouth like a fish.

"Then how?" he finally managed to ask.

"Detective work" Batman replied.

"You mean he just figured them out?" Flash asked incredulously.

"Yes" Batman stated. He glanced at Flash from the corner of his eyes, "congratulations, he said you were the second most difficult to figure out" the Dark Knight added. Flash blinked.

"Really?" he asked sounding happy. Suddenly a computerized voice echoed through the mountain.

"Recognized: Superman 01, Green Arrow 09"

"Did the team figure out who was behind the smuggling of Blockbuster into Gotham?" Superman asked as he entered the room. Batman ignored the new arrivals choosing to continue with what he was doing.

The Man of Steel watched Batman expectantly until he realized that the other man was not going to answer him. He sighed and looked to Flash who was grinning at him and Green Arrow while rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.

"Ummm, something up?" Green Arrow asked watching the speedster.

"I was more difficult to figure out" Flash replied his grin growing wider. Superman raised an eyebrow and Green Arrow looked confused.

"What?" the archer asked.

"He knows who we are and you two were easier to figure out than me" Flash stated cheerfully.

"Who are you talking about?" Superman asked.

"Karasu" Flash replied.

"WHAT!" they cried. Flash gave a sagely nod.

"I reacted the same way" he said. Superman turned to Batman who was still ignoring them.

"I thought you said he didn't access that part of the League's database" he said in an accusing tone. The Dark Knight turned to the other three heroes.

"He didn't, he figured them out on his own" Batman replied in a monotone. Why was he having this conversation _again_?

"How could he have possibly figured out our secret identities?" Superman asked. Batman gave him a dry look before turning back to the computer without answering.

.

(Scene change – Gotham City)

Karasu was running along the rooftops back to the building that had become his base. It was one of the only structures within his territory that had any sort of greenery growing around it. He surmised that it used to be some kind of office building.

He had fixed it up using several rooms to house his electronic items that he had…found. Karasu had several monitors hooked to an extensive web of cameras he had placed throughout the building and even some that were located at random spots in his territory – so he could keep an eye out for anyone he felt shouldn't be there.

One room on the ground level was converted into a garage where he kept and worked on his motorcycle. In another section of the building he had hollowed out an area and added several ropes and bars. This is of course where he practiced his acrobatics. The area also included other equipment such as punching bags and targets for his throwing knives which he kept in the pouch strapped to his leg.

Outside was a large tree – an uncommon sight so deep into the city. It was the main reason he had chosen this particular building as his base. He had always liked the outdoors and being surrounded by concrete all day was not something he enjoyed. On nights when the weather was nice – which was rare in Gotham – he would sleep in the tree rather than inside of the building.

The hacker was about five minutes from his makeshift home when he spotted a rather large man wearing what appeared to be a luchador mask.

'_Him again'_ Karasu thought darkly remembering the first time he had confronted Bane.

.

**Flashback **

.

"What's with this guy?" Karasu asked himself narrowing his eyes slightly in the beginnings of a glare. He had seen the man a few times before, but it was now apparent that he was looking to set up in the area. The man was talking to a group of thugs. He wore something like a holding tank on his back with a tube that attached to the base of his skull. His face was covered by a black and white mask.

The hacker slid a finger behind one of his red belts and pulled out a small, circular device that was hidden there. He held it carefully between the thumb and pointer finger of his left hand while pulling his right hand up and flicking the device in the direction of the man.

It landed unnoticed on the brick wall behind the mysterious person. Karasu tapped another device in his ear turning it on so he could listen to the conversation.

"Look Bane, I'm tellin' yah it's not a good idea to set up 'round here" one of the thugs said.

"And why is that?" the masked man – Bane – asked. Karasu tilted his head trying to place the man's accent.

'_Hmm, definitely Spanish – South America maybe?'_ he pondered.

"It's just not a good area, this is Karasu's turf" the man who had spoken before replied. He kept his voice low as if he was trying not to get caught.

'_Too late for that'_ Karasu thought with a smirk.

"I don't care about some guy who thinks this is his place to control, I need a new set up since los niños blew up my factory in Santa Prisca" Bane retorted.

'_Ha, I was right – it was South America'_ Karasu thought smugly.

"Suit yourself, but we're outta here" the thug said. The others nodded and followed him into the alleys. Karasu smirked and moved to the shadows near Bane.

"Idiotas, they behave as though this person is going to show up at any moment" Bane muttered disdainfully.

"They aren't that far off base" Karasu said in amusement, stepping out of the shadows. Bane spun around to face him – shock evident on his face.

"You startled me niño" the villain said. "That is not a good idea, I may have sent you through this wall" he added in a more threatening tone pointing to the wall next to him. Karasu shrugged.

"But you didn't" he replied.

"No, but I wouldn't push my look if I were you" Bane retorted.

"Would it be pushing my luck to tell you to get the heck off of my turf?" Karasu replied darkly.

"Yes, it would" Bane said his muscles nearly tripling in size as Venom ran through the tube attached to the back of his head. Karasu raised an eyebrow.

'_Okay, that's interesting'_ he thought.

Karasu flipped lightly backwards dodging a punch. Bane's fist collided with the wall behind where Karasu had been standing causing it to collapse. Karasu whistled.

"You got a lot of power behind those fists of yours" he commented. Bane smirked.

"Yes, and if you would hold still I could show you properly" he said.

"Nah, that's okay" Karasu said jumping up and using Bane's shoulder to spring over him. Unfortunately Bane managed to catch his ankle and throw him into a nearby wall. The acrobat grunted pulling himself from the rubble that collapsed over him on impact.

"Ow" he muttered shaking his head to clear it as Bane charged at him. He jumped to the side barely avoiding the man and reached into the pouch strapped to his leg to pull out a throwing knife.

Karasu avoided Bane's charge again and threw the knife. It sliced through the tube that was feeding Venom into the back of Bane's head. Bane collapsed and Karasu retrieved his knife – his breathing slightly labored.

"That's gonna be a problem" he said eyeing the liquid pouring out of the tube.

.

**End Flashback**

.

Karasu watched as Bane turned and walked into an alley, vanishing into the darkness. He scowled. No way was he going to let this guy encroach on _his_ territory. Unfortunately, there wasn't much he could do at the moment – Bane was a far more skilled fighter than him. He'd gotten lucky in their first fight and he knew it.

Choosing to ignore the man - _for now -_ he continued on his way until a beep sounded from his wrist computer.

"Now who's here?" he asked himself in exasperation. The beep indicated that one of his cameras had picked up someone who was not recognized in his database of people usually seen lurking in the area. It wasn't too often that a new face popped up around here.

Karasu pulled up his holographic computer finding where the person was.

.

(Scene change / Time change – Mt. Justice, several minutes earlier)

Batman had been trying to figure out what Karasu would want with Blockbuster formula, but he was just running into a dead end over and over.

Because really, what use would he have for such a small amount? Karasu didn't seem the type to use something like that on himself.

Behind him Superman and Green Arrow were both still going on about how hard their identities would be to figure out.

'_Idiots'_ he thought turning from the computer. Superman looked up noticing that Batman was no longer ignoring them.

"So who was behind the Blockbuster thing?" he asked again.

"Karasu" Batman replied. Superman's eyes went wide.

"See I told you he was dangerous" the Man of Steel said.

"I never said he wasn't" Batman replied. The Dark Knight turned to walk out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Superman asked.

"Find out what Karasu wants with the Blockbuster formula" Batman replied before stepping into the zeta beams and vanishing in a flash of white light.

.

(Gotham City)

Batman exited the old phone booth and started toward the area he believed was Karasu's territory. As he entered the space he noticed a camera hidden in the shadows.

The Dark Knight raised an eyebrow but continued onward. It wasn't long before he noticed a shadow moving in his peripheral vision.

"So it was you" Karasu stated stepping out of the shadows.

"Your camera alerts you to people entering the area" Batman inquired – the way that he said it made it sound more like a statement than a question. Karasu answered anyway.

"Yeah – what brings you?" he asked.

"Why do you want the Blockbuster formula?" Batman asked getting straight to the point. Karasu raised an eyebrow.

"Because of Bane" he replied.

"What does Bane have to do with you?" Batman inquired.

"Someone _apparently_ blew up Bane's little factory in Santa Prisca so he's going to be moving his operations. Lately I've been seeing him on my turf. I confronted him but that Venom is some nasty stuff" Karasu explained.

"That doesn't explain why you were smuggling Blockbuster Formula" Batman replied. Karasu made a dismissive gesture with his hand.

"Yeah, yeah – getting to that. Word on the street is that Venom and Blockbuster were combined – I figured that if they could be combined then something about Blockbuster was compatible. So if I could figure out a way to make Blockbuster counteract the effects of Venom then Bane wouldn't be a problem" he said.

'_How did he know about the Blockbuster-Venom hybrid drug? Does he have some sort of information network set up?'_ the Dark Knight wondered briefly.

"And have you?" Batman asked returning his focus to the conversation. He was honestly curious – he hadn't thought of that and it would be helpful when fighting people like Bane who used Venom.

"A couple, but both are just as likely kill him as they are to reverse the effects of Venom and I'm not the killing type. Extensive stay in the hospital sure, but not murder." Karasu replied.

"How can I trust that you aren't lying about what you're using the Blockbuster for?" Batman asked. The bird turned to him, his head tilted to the side as he regarded the black clad hero.

"You can't" was Karasu's reply as he faded back into the shadows.

.

**First things first here, I am SO sorry about how long it's taken to update – circumstances were out of my control. I'm in that area (if you've heard on the news or anything) that was hit with a pretty bad storm last Friday night – June 29 - and I didn't get power back until today (Monday, July 2) and I last updated… Wednesday of last week? I think anyway. Phone lines were down most of Saturday, so even if I did have power I wouldn't have been able to update then. I use a laptop, but it lasts all of five seconds on its battery alone (I should get a new one, but that takes money) – not nearly enough time to start it up and upload. **

**Heh, with the way the wind sounds outside (and I can hear it howling big time) I don't know if the power will **_**stay**_** on. Hopefully it'll hold out long enough for me to update. Plus FanFiction's being all finicky and not working right *grumbles to self* the world hates me, I know it. (I'll sort of explain that – I'm typing this at 4:26 pm [eastern standard time] and I can't get on FanFiction at all: now I'm typing **_**this**_** at 5:00 pm and I just got on FanFiction and uploaded the chapter so it'll show up within the next 15 minutes or so – which will possibly be when you are reading it n_n)**

**But enough about my strife with the world, on to business:**

**I know this chapter's not great, I can't help it I need to set some stuff up and I really wanted to update**

**My chapters have all been decently lengthed (in my opinion) lately. I feel so accomplished.**

**Shut up computer! **

***Sigh***

**Well **_**apparently**_** 'lengthed' isn't a word, but I don't care – my computer can just spaz about it 'cause I'm not gonna change it.**

**Oh, almost forgot – some of you expressed dislike in Karasu's scarf – if you like I can work away to remove it from his costume, don't know how yet (maybe having a talk with Batman or it gets in the way of a fight or somethin') but I'm flexible and I'm not really partial to it so it's up to you guys. Post in the comments or send a pm or something**

**On a side note, one of the anonymous reviewers from last chapter – you know who you are – shhh! You're trying to read my mind or something, givin' stuff away ;P**

**BYE!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer**: don't own Young Justice. Shocker.

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

"_How can I trust that you aren't lying about what you're using the Blockbuster for?" Batman asked._

"_You can't" was Karasu's reply had he faded into the shadows._

.

Chapter 9

Batman was at the mountain again awaiting the team's return from their most recent mission. It had been a few days since he spoke with Karasu, but he couldn't stop thinking about what the hacker had said.

'_Why _do_ I trust him?'_ the Dark Knight pondered. He didn't trust anyone – other than Alfred, of course - yet he couldn't find it in himself to suspect that Karasu could be lying to him.

Superman's arrival was announced through the cave and Batman sighed.

'_Him again'_ he thought in annoyance. The man had been grating on his nerves lately.

"Hey Batman, did Karasu tell you what he was doing with the Blockbuster formula?" Superman asked in a somewhat smug voice, thinking that Karasu wouldn't have told the Dark Knight anything. Because really, why should he?

"Yes" Batman replied. Superman froze with a shocked expression.

"Really?" he asked furrowing his eyebrows.

"Yes" Batman repeated.

"You just asked him and he told you?" Superman asked for clarification.

"Yes" Batman replied shortly. He was starting to get annoyed. Superman blinked.

"So…what's he going to do with it?" he asked.

"Nothing of our concern at the moment" Batman replied cryptically. Superman sighed.

"Come on, there's no way it's not going to affect us" the Man of Steel reasoned. Batman didn't respond. "Batman" Superman said. The Dark Knight rolled his eyes beneath his cowl.

"Fine. It could potentially help us" he replied.

"A villain having access to Blockbuster could be _good_ for us?" Superman asked skeptically.

"Yes" Batman replied.

"How?" Superman asked.

"He's working on a way to use Blockbuster to counteract Venom" Batman explained. Superman seemed deep in thought for a moment.

"You can do that?" he asked. Batman shrugged.

"He's trying to" the Dark Knight replied.

"Huh, but wait – when does he deal with someone who uses Venom?" Superman asked.

"He says that Bane is trying to set up in his 'territory' since the team blew up the factory in Santa Prisca. Apparently he has confronted Bane, but the Venom proved to be a problem" Batman explained.

"I'd imagine, he is just human – isn't he?" Superman finished unsurely. Batman shrugged.

"I believe he is human, he's shown no signs of having powers" he said.

"But you don't know for sure?" Superman asked. Batman shook his head.

"We really don't know all that much about him" Superman said thoughtfully. "What do you know?" he asked as an afterthought.

"Just that he is young, an experienced hacker, fairly cooperative, and is either brave or crazy enough to steal from the Joker" Batman replied.

"Hmmm, well then…" the Man of Steel trailed off as the conversation faded to a comfortable silence. Not long after the team returned from their mission. Batman turned away from the computer as the teens walked in.

"Team, report" he ordered. Kaldur stepped forward.

"The mission was a success, the Dr. Roquette is safe and the FOG was stopped. The only problem we encountered was the group of assassins which consisted of Cheshire, Hook and Black Spider" he said.

"The League of Shadows must be on the move again" Batman said. "Well done team, you are dismissed" he added.

Before they had a chance to leave, the computerized voice rang out through the cave.

"Recognized: …"

"Why didn't it give a name?" Superman asked. Batman shook his head – he didn't know either. The group waited and watched as the doors opened to reveal a certain hacker.

"Nice place" Karasu stated as he ambled into the room.

"Karasu!" Kid Flash cried pointing at the acrobat.

"Kid Flash!" he replied mimicking Wally's movement and using the same tone of surprise the speedster had used.

"Karasu?" Artemis asked looking over the hacker.

"I believe we've established that" Karasu returned.

"That's Karasu?" Superman asked. Karasu turned to stare at the Man of Steel. He raised an eyebrow. Had the man not heard the other two call him by name and him give an affirmative? Wasn't he _supposed_ to have super hearing or something? Well then… no reason to just let that slide.

"Nope, I'm Superman" he replied in a completely serious tone.

"No, that's me. You're seriously Karasu?" Superman asked.

"No, I just told you I was Superman – you fake" the hacker retorted.

"What's going on here?" M'gann asked, confusion written across her face. Usually she could tell if someone was lying, but both felt like they were telling the truth. Karasu turned to her.

"That faker" he said jabbing his thumb in Superman's direction, "is pretending to be me – poorly I might add."

"No I'm not" Superman denied. Karasu turned back to him.

"Yes you are – you're just so far into the role that you don't even realize that you're living a lie" the hacker stated. Superman opened his mouth to say something, but immediately closed it again. He repeated this process a couple of times with a lost look on his face. How in the world had the conversation turned to this? What was he supposed to say? It's ridiculous!

The team glanced at each other then back to the Man of Steel. What was going on? Batman finally decided to take pity on the Kryptonian – not that he wasn't enjoying the scene in front of him.

"Karasu" the Dark Knight said in a reprimanding tone. The bird sighed.

"Fine" he said grudgingly.

"So he _is_ Superman?" M'gann asked pointing to the Man of Steel. She was still confused.

"Yes, he is Superman" Batman replied.

"And that's Karasu" the Martian continued pointing to the bird.

"At your service" Karasu said with a sweeping bow. M'gann blinked a couple of times taking in the information.

"Ok?" she said tilting her head to the side slightly. Karasu was very strange…and a really good liar since neither she nor Conner – she'd asked him telepathically during the whole exchange - could tell that he was lying about being Superman. Black Canary suddenly walked into the room.

"Oh, you're back team. How did the mission go – who is that and why is he here?" she asked noticing Karasu.

"This is Karasu and… why _is_ he here?" Superman asked, just now realizing that no one had bothered to ask. Of course the whole 'I'm Superman' thing had kind of taken them all off guard. Everyone turned to stare at Karasu who snapped his fingers as if realizing something.

"Oh right" he muttered reaching into the pouch strapped to his leg. He pulled out a vial of purplish colored liquid. "Catch" Karasu said tossing the vial to Batman. Batman caught it easily and glanced at it before looking back at Karasu with a raised eyebrow.

"Is this?" he asked.

"Yep – the cure-all for Venom users. Reverses the effects of the drug in about three minutes _and_ it's not deadly" Karasu said proudly. "As long as the person _is_ using Venom anyway" he added as an afterthought.

"What happens if they aren't using Venom?" Kid Flash asked. Karasu shrugged dismissively.

"They die" he replied. The speedster's eyes went wide as he turned to stare at the tiny vial in Batman's hand.

"How?" Batman asked. The others looked at the bat wondering what he meant, but Karasu seemed to understand the question.

"Trial and error?" he supplied with a shrug. Batman's eyes narrowed slightly – not good enough.

"Fine – let's see: sleepless nights, blood, sweat, tears, blackmail-" Karasu listed off dismissively.

"Blackmail?" Kid Flash interrupted.

"yeah, I'm no scientist – so I … _enlisted_ the help of one" Karasu replied.

"Who?" Batman practically demanded.

"Ah-ah, that would be telling…besides, if I did tell then you would have him fired and I wouldn't be able to _enlist_ his services again" Karasu retorted.

'I_ would have him fired? So the person works for Wayne Enterprises'_ Batman concluded. It wouldn't be a good idea to simply fire the person since he or she was apparently good at what they did. It was Gotham, so it could be anyone and a random investigation with no seeming cause would only cause trouble. He would have to catch the person in the act in order to fire them.

"Why are you giving this serum to Batman?" Black Canary asked, re-entering the conversation. Karasu didn't answer right away; instead he scratched the side of his head with a contemplative look on his face.

"For the recognition, I guess. He knew that I was working on it and seemed interested in it. I was pretty excited when I got one that worked. Just wanted someone to know" he replied with a shrug.

"And you come to _Batman_ for this?" Black Canary asked skeptically. Who goes to Batman for a sense of _accomplishment_ about anything? He's more likely to tell you what you did wrong with it.

"It's not like I talk to a lot of people" Karasu retorted. "Besides, he would actually care since it could prove helpful to him. I mean, I could go tell Bane or something, but that would defeat the purpose."

Beeping suddenly filled the area. Karasu pulled up his holographic computer and growled deep in his throat. He muttered a word under his breath that only Superman and Conner could understand.

"Well, I've gotta go – got a _visitor_ back at my place" the hacker said, venom dripping from his tone. He looked up at the assembled heroes gave a mock salute as a flash bomb went off blinding them temporarily. When it faded Karasu was gone.

"I didn't hear him leave" Conner said.

"Yeah, me neither" Superman agreed.

"How does he do that?" Kid Flash asked in an exasperated voice.

"Where'd he get the flash bomb?" M'gann asked.

"From me" everyone turned to Batman as he said this.

"You gave him a flash bomb?" Superman asked.

"No, he took one the first time I spoke to him face-to-face" Batman replied.

"And you didn't stop him?" Black Canary asked.

"No" the Dark Knight stated.

"OK then?" Superman said – who was he to question the bat.

"What did he say?" Kaldur asked after a few moments of silence. The others turned to him.

"What?" Artemis asked.

"What did he say when he looked at his computer?" Kaldur asked.

"Bane" Conner replied. Superman nodded.

"Wait, isn't Bane that guy from Santa Prisca?" Wally asked.

"Yes" Batman replied.

"Why does Karasu seem to hate him so much?" M'gann asked hesitantly.

"They've had a few encounters" Batman said.

"And that makes Karasu hate Bane like that?" Artemis asked.

"He's … territorial" Batman explained.

"And Bane is encroaching on what he has claimed as his…territory" Kaldur said putting everything together. Batman simply nodded an affirmative.

.

(Gotham City)

"Freaking Bane getting near _my_ house, just trying to piss me off" Karasu muttered darkly as he made his way through the city. Yeah, he _really_ didn't like Bane – the man rubbed him the wrong way. And yes, he had set his computer to send a signal if Bane - specifically - was anywhere near the office building he called home.

He had already defeated him – granted it was pure luck on his part – and the man still had the gall[1] to continue trying to set up in his territory.

Couldn't Bane just go to a different part of Gotham? It's a big enough place. But no, it had to be _there_.

Karasu had run into Bane a couple of times since their first encounter and while there had been words and insults thrown back and forth, luckily it hadn't escalated into physical confrontations, but their relationship had gone from bad to worse.

His alarm went off again, this time signaling that someone had entered his home. Karasu's eyes narrowed into a glare. He growled again and increased his pace.

When he arrived he found Bane in one of the many traps he had set up through the building. Several others had been set off all through the building, but this one had managed to catch him – probably because it was a heavy metal cage with electricity flowing through it. It just happened to be right outside of the room where he kept all of the money he… found.

"Well if it isn't Bane, how nice to see you" the acrobat said, sarcasm dripping from his words.

"Ah, is this your place niño?" Bane asked. Karasu scowled.

"Yeah, what do you think you're doing here?" the hacker asked.

"Just looking around, thought I might set up around here. This building seems nice and it won't be occupied for long" the villain said in a threatening tone. Karasu glared at him.

"I'm afraid someone has been giving you false information, I have no intention of moving" he replied. Bane smirked.

"I never said anything about you leaving willingly niño" Bane said darkly.

"Yeah, and I never said anything about letting you out of that cage" Karasu retorted.

"You think that this will stop me?" Bane asked. Karasu shrugged.

"I don't know, you haven't escaped from it yet" he said mockingly. Bane glared at him.

"I just haven't tried" he replied beginning to pump Venom through the tube attached to his head. Karasu smirked beneath his mask. Perfect.

.

**Yep, I'm gonna leave it there. **

**My sister read this out loud when I showed it to her and did Superman's parts in this terrible country hick voice, it was hilarious [nothing against Superman].**

**Sorry it's late…again. I've been typing a bunch of handwritten notes and stuff up and I was tired of looking at **_**words**_**. Plus I read through this chapter when I did finish it and decided that it needed some editing, or a lot of editing. But here it is :D**

**[1] – yeah, so 'gall' – other words would be audacity or nerve (I've heard and used the word 'gall' in conversation, but it looked weird typed so I just wanted to be sure everyone knew what it meant and that it wasn't some crazy typo or something)**

**Oh yeah, and the scarf thing – so far I've gotten three votes for the scarf to go and one to stay. two people did realize its use, though (kudos to you jordylilly777 and Rozben) the scarf is where he gets the red feathers that he leaves around.**

**Some of you have asked where he got his fighting skills – I didn't want to make it look like he was that great of a fighter (apparently I failed at that) because he's not formally trained or anything, the reason he's better than the thugs he beats is 'cause of his acrobatics from growing up in the circus and his ingenuity – otherwise it's just street fighting. It's been in the story twice now that beating Bane was a fluke/luck on Karasu's part.**

**BYE!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer**: I don't claim any sort of ownership of Young Justice

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

"_I don't know, you haven't escaped from it yet" he said mockingly. Bane glared at him._

"_I just haven't tried" he replied beginning to pump Venom through the tube attached to his head. Karasu smirked beneath his mask. Perfect._

.

Chapter 10

Bane's muscles grew larger and he grabbed a hold of the cage, ignoring the electricity. The man pulled it over himself and threw it at Karasu who ducked down narrowly avoiding the cumbersome projectile. He stood and glanced back at the wall the cage had destroyed with raised eyebrows then turned back to Bane.

"Someone's touchy" the bird commented. Bane snarled in response.

"What? Not up to talking to me today?" Karasu asked the enraged villain.

"You've insulted me niño, I don't take kindly to that" Bane said.

"Oh, and how did I do that?" Karasu asked smirking beneath his mask. If Bane was angry enough he might act more recklessly. As long as the fight stayed in the building Karasu had an advantage – slim but there. Bane couldn't move as well in the confined space and Karasu had some _surprises_ set up.

"Implying that I could not escape your little trap" Bane replied with disdain.

"I don't know, you just kind of broke out; you used brute force – not intelligence" Karasu chided.

"I don't need intelligence to deal with the likes of you" Bane stated charging toward the bird. Karasu raised an eyebrow.

"Are you insulting _me_ now?" he asked calmly – hoping to infuriate the man further – while jumping out of Bane's way. It was working so far since the man had simply charged with no intent other than to run him over – which was easy enough to dodge for the acrobat. Bane stepped back through the hole he had just made in the wall.

"You know, I think I'm gonna have to bill you for all of this damage" Karasu said observing the two large holes.

"I'll have it fixed when I take the building" Bane said.

"You still going on about that?" Karasu asked in an amused tone.

Bane shot forward and feigned a right hook only to grab Karasu's arm and sling him down the hall. The acrobat rolled a little ways before smacking into the far wall.

"Ok, oww" Karasu muttered picking himself off the ground in time to dodge Bane's next charge. The villain went right through the wall again. "Really?" Karasu exclaimed gesturing at the newest hole. Stupid flimsy office building walls. Bane chuckled while brushing some of the rubble off himself.

"Are you ready to give up?" Bane asked condescendingly. "You are at a disadvantage in strength."

"You forget, this is my house" Karasu retorted as a trapdoor opened beneath him and he slipped out of sight. Bane moved to look through the opening and caught a glimpse of the acrobat as he ran through the hall a floor below.

"Clever niño" he said heading down the hall – the hole was too small for him to fit through and trying to break through only to become stuck in the _floor_ would be rather embarrassing.

So stairs it was.

.

(With Karasu)

"Let's see, he'll probably come down the stairs so that gives me a little time" Karasu muttered to himself as he filled a syringe with his anti-Venom serum. "There's no way I'm going to be able to just walk up to him and just stab him with a needle, so I'll have to be creative."

Karasu looked up and noticed that he had run into his makeshift gym. He grinned.

.

(With Bane)

Bane opened the door to the stairwell and walked into the hall.

"Now where did you go?" he wondered heading in the direction Karasu had taken off in. Bane looked up as he entered a part of the building that had been hollowed out and had ropes and bars hanging from different heights along with some training equipment on the ground level.

Bane looked around; he knew the boy was here. He could feel it.

"Niño" he called. He whipped his head to the side at the sound of rustling cloth and saw a rope near the ground sway. Bane's eyes narrowed and he looked up.

He was just in time to see Karasu land on his shoulder and shove a needle into his neck. The acrobat sprang back up grabbing hold of a rope and using it to gain momentum. He swung a few times and released letting himself fly through the air. Karasu flipped three times before landing in the middle of the room.

Bane stood still for a moment trying to see how whatever it was that was in the syringe would affect him. Thirty seconds later nothing had happened.

"Your drug didn't work" he stated, a smirk forming on his face. Karasu raised an eyebrow.

"How would you know? Any idea of what it does?" he retorted.

"Probably a sedative" Bane replied with a smug look. Karasu shrugged.

"Whatever you want to think" he said with a smirk.

Bane glared and charged forward. The acrobat slipped under his legs and jumped up kicking him from behind and causing him to stumble forward a couple of steps. Karasu landed and back flipped out of the larger man's range.

If he could stay out of range he might just win this. All he needed to do was wait it out.

The fight, if you could call it one, went on like that for awhile with Bane trying to hit Karasu and the bird dodging each blow – some of them just barely – while attempting to stay out of the range of Bane's fists. Suddenly Bane's muscles shrunk back to their normal size. He stopped fighting with a confused look on his face.

"Would you look at that – three minutes exactly" Karasu commented with a smirk.

"What did you do niño?" Bane demanded clinching the fist of the hand he had been staring at.

"Oh nothing – just came up with a little concoction that makes your Venom useless" Karasu replied casually.

"No matter, it won't affect the outcome of this fight" the villain sneered.

"On the contrary, now my hits will actually damage you since you don't have all of the muscle to protect you anymore" Karasu said.

"It will not matter" Bane replied.

"Oh, shall I up the difficulty then? How do you feel about fighting in the dark?" Karasu asked. He was used to the darkness himself and knew the layout of this room well enough to navigate with no light.

"Lights, off" Karasu called without giving Bane a chance to answer.

The entire room went dark, the only light coming in thin streams from the cracks in the boarded up windows.

Bane looked around trying to find the acrobat in the darkness. It was a fruitless effort that he soon abandoned. The villain closed his eyes and concentrated on what he could hear.

There was a swish of material to his left then a light footstep directly in front of him. Bane thrust his arm forward toward the sound.

Nothing.

"What's wrong Bane, didn't you want to fight?" the bird asked – his voice seemingly coming from everywhere at once.

Bane jumped slightly when he felt a puff of air on the back of his neck. He swung around, but the bird was gone. He heard a blade being unsheathed.

"Did you know that another word for bane is pest? Fitting I'd say" Karasu's said, his voice taking on a more malevolent edge as it again came from seemingly every direction.

Bane heard the creaking sound given off by a rope when weight is applied to it and tensed in preparation. He felt the wind as Karasu swung past him.

He struck out again but, like before, hit nothing.

He heard movement behind him just before something hard impacted the back of his head, effectively knocking him out before he could react properly.

"Lights, on" Karasu said. The lights flickered back into existence as Karasu re-sheathed his dagger. He had used the flat of the blade to hit Bane's head while swinging at him from behind. Momentum adds a lot of power to a strike.

"Well…that's that" he said observing Bane's unconscious form. He grabbed the man's leg and started dragging him through the building. Too bad he didn't have to go down any staircases…

Karasu froze when he reached the garage.

Almost every single trap had been sprung – leading him to believe that this is where Bane broke in at – and his motorcycle was on its side near the far wall. He dropped Bane's leg and moved forward stiffly.

Karasu bit his bottom lip noticing the dents and scratches across the sleek bike.

"My baby" he whispered miserably. Then his mood took a 180 and he was angry.

"Oh, he's gonna _**pay**_ for this" he hissed. Karasu pulled the bike upright and got a long chain attaching one end to the back of his motorcycle and the other to Bane's leg.

"C'mon Baney-Boy, let's go for a ride" he muttered darkly, starting the bike.

He dragged Bane through the alleys – _maybe_ hitting more bumps and slinging the unconscious villain into more walls and poles than was really necessary - to the more populated part of Gotham. Once he got there he painstakingly hoisted the unconscious villain up to the top of a building and tied him to the tallest point.

Karasu pulled out his dagger and severed the tube Bane used for his Venom.

"Don't want you waking up and breaking out of here" he said to the unresponsive man. He smiled creepily and patted the man on the head.

"Be a good boy now" he said pulling out a bunch of fireworks from… somewhere. He set them up so one would go off every few minutes. Karasu scattered a bunch of red feathers around the area. He turned to survey the setup before nodding, lighting the first firework – which would cause a chain reaction lighting all of the others – and disappearing into the shadows.

.

(15 minutes later – Mt. Justice)

A blinking icon showed up on the monitor where Batman was working alerting him to a breaking story in Gotham. He clicked on it and a newsfeed was pulled up.

"I'm reporting from downtown Gotham where a man was found tied to the top of a building and surrounded by red feathers while illegal fireworks went off every few minutes with seemingly no one there to light them" the reporter said.

"A noise complaint was issued with the Gotham PD which is how the man –" the woman stopped putting her hand up to her ear. "I have just been informed that the man has been identified as Bane, a villain who has been seen in the area lately. It seems that the police have taken him into custody" she continued.

Batman cut the feed. He had no reason to respond - the situation was obviously under control.

Bane must have done something pretty bad for Karasu to go through so much trouble to have him taken into custody.

.

(Gotham – Karasu's garage)

Karasu was buffing out the last of the dents on his motorcycle. All that was left to do was cover the scratches in the paint. He rubbed his hand across the bike.

"I promise I won't let something like this happen again" he murmured in a soothing tone.

.

**I just had to add that last bit**

**Ha ha! It's not late! Accomplishment~**

**News on the scarf – some people want it to stay, others want it to go, and some have proposed a compromise – seeing as the feathers are important to his character the scarf would go, but feathers will be added to another feature of his costume. Whether that be something pre-existing (like one of his belts or his gloves or something) or new (jordylilly777 suggested a cape with feathers on the inside)**

**Tell me what'cha think – stay, go, compromise? If this is happening then it's likely to be soon so I need to know**

**BYE!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer**: I don't own YJ, at all

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

_Karasu was buffing out the last of the dents on his motorcycle. All that was left to do was cover the scratches in touch-up paint. He rubbed his hand across the bike._

"_I promise I won't let something like this happen again" he murmured in a soothing tone._

.

Chapter 11

Bane had been arrested and sentenced to three months in prison. His incarceration would be longer, but they didn't have a lot of evidence on him. It wasn't Karasu's ideal punishment, but he wasn't going to complain. It would keep the pest out of his hair for awhile anyway.

Or it would have anyway.

Unfortunately there was a large prison break just over a day later – courtesy of a certain clown – and Bane escaped. But that's Gotham for you. They probably should have locked him up in Blackgate or something.

Though at the moment he had other things on his mind than Gotham's _apparent_ inability to keep any criminal locked up for more than a couple of weeks. Especially since the before mentioned clown and pest were currently standing right in front of him along with Harley and Penguin – and it had only been a few hours since the breakout.

Karasu sighed before glaring at Bane who glared back. When did life get so complicated?

"Sooooooo~ you in?" Joker suddenly asked ripping the bird from both his musings and his glaring contest with Bane. Karasu blinked a couple of times.

"…What?" he asked. Had Joker been talking?

"Are ya in?" the clown asked again.

"In on _what_?" Karasu asked furrowing his eyebrows slightly.

"Why the plan of course" Joker replied with an 'isn't it obvious?' tone in his voice.

"Plan?" Karasu repeated uncertainly.

"Yes, the plan – weren't you listening?" Joker asked.

"You didn't tell him the plan…idiot" A small round man with an umbrella and top hat said.

"Oh. I haven't, have I?" Joker said before he started laughing. Penguin sighed pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation. Why had he agreed to teaming up with this guy again?

"Would you just tell me this plan of yours so I can get on with my life?" Karasu asked exasperatedly.

"Nope, it's a surprise!" Joker exclaimed. Penguin face palmed and Bane looked like he wanted to be anywhere but next to the psychotic clown. But the clown had broken him out of prison so he would fight alongside him… _this_ time – and probably never again. He had his own brand of honor to uphold after all.

Even if it meant putting up with someone he _loathed_.

"Well I'm glad we had this whole conversation" Karasu stated in a monotone.

"So, you in?" Joker asked for the third time. Karasu shrugged.

"Sure, I don't have anything else to do today" he replied.

"Oh goodie" Joker said gleefully, clapping his hands in excitement.

"Yes, _goodie_" Bane drawled glowering at Karasu. The acrobat turned to him and glared back.

"Love you too" Karasu retorted, sarcasm dripping from his words as the group left the alley.

.

(Scene Change: Batcave)

Batman was running a search on everyone living in or near Gotham who matched Karasu's description. So far he had some that were close, but would require further investigation. Most were young boys – eleven to fifteen – with black hair and blue eyes.

Blue because it was the most likely color of Karasu's eyes since the color was around the edges and least likely to be covered by the contacts or whatever it was that the boy wore to make his eyes seem to fade from purple to blue.

He was, however, running a separate check that collected the names of teens with other eye colors just in case, but he was steadfast in his assumption that Karasu had blue eyes.

Batman was interrupted when the computer beeped before bringing up information on a story about the recent break out from a jail somewhere in Gotham.

Jail breaks were fairly common, but this was the jail that Bane had been sent to – he doubted that it was a coincidence.

He left the scans running and took off in the Batmobile to investigate.

.

The Dark Knight arrived at the prison about fifteen minutes later. It didn't take long for him to figure out who had been behind the breakout.

There was bomb residue along the walls and evidence of a missile launcher having been used. The tufts of animal fur – hyena to be exact – only served to further solidify his assumption.

Joker.

The only question was _why_ Joker wanted to break Bane out of jail. Had Bane not been there Batman would have chalked it up as Joker being Joker and trying to cause some general chaos for his amusement. But Bane was there, so there had to be more to it than that.

He thought about this as he headed to Mt. Justice. This would make good experience for the team.

.

(Mt. Justice)

Batman arrived at the cave and called the team to the mission room. The teens arrived soon after. Wally was the first to arrive – obviously – followed shortly by Kaldur. Artemis walked in next with M'gann and Conner arriving moments later.

Once they were settled in front of the Dark Knight, he stepped forward and brought up an image of Joker on the holographic computer.

"This, as you all know, is Joker. He recently broke Bane out of prison. Bane was brought in barely a day ago. This is no coincidence. Your mission is to find out what they are up to and stop it" he said.

"You're sending us after Joker alone?" Kid Flash asked slightly shocked. He knew that Joker was one of Batman's more dangerous enemies.

"No, I will be coming as well. None of you have any experience with Joker – it's too big a risk to go in without knowing what you are dealing with. Now let's go" Batman replied as he moved to leave the room.

.

(Gotham – warehouse district)

Batman and the team were in an alley near the warehouse Joker and the others were using. It wasn't difficult to find since it was crawling with henchmen – both Joker's and Penguin's.

Batman narrowed his eyes. So they weren't dealing with just Joker and Bane, but Penguin, too. Probably Harley as well since Joker was there.

Great.

As long as the Joker hadn't employed anyone else they should be fine, he wasn't sure if the team was ready to fight such a large group of accomplished villains. Batman was only letting them go in now because he was there with them.

"Are you ready?" Batman asked. The team nodded. Batman turned to Aqualad.

"I want the team to take care of the henchmen first. I will observe and help if necessary, but it is good experience for you all to take on a large number of enemies on your own" he said.

"I understand, I appreciate your confidence in us" Aqualad replied respectfully before turning to the team to give his orders.

Kid Flash was to disarm the henchmen while Artemis provided covering fire. Superboy would take out as many as possible in his usual fashion – charging through their ranks and throwing them left and right. Miss Martian would sneak in behind using her camouflage and take out thugs from the back. Aqualad himself was going to follow Superboy's example and charge in with his water bearers.

This would hopefully allow them to take out the mass of henchmen as quickly as possible.

.

The plan worked perfectly.

Kid Flash managed to disarm nearly all of the thugs before they realized what was going on. The ones that caught on couldn't attack before their weapons were knocked from their hands by Artemis. Miss Martian caused what little organization they had to go flying out the window – literally.

She used her powers to throw the man who was barking orders to the other henchmen out the window. Luckily for him, they were on the ground floor.

Superboy charged in with a battle cry bowling the henchmen over and tossing them like rag dolls around the room. Aqualad formed a hammer with his water bearers and used it to bat away any thugs left behind by Superboy's initial attack.

Meanwhile Batman stood by evaluating how well the team worked together.

By the time the fight was over the henchmen were tied in various groups around the room. Batman walked forward from the shadows he had been lurking in startling Kid Flash who had been standing less than three feet away and didn't realize the bat had been there.

"Well done team" Batman said. Aqualad nodded in appreciation.

"Sooo…now we face Joker?" Kid Flash asked.

"Don't forget Bane" Artemis tacked on.

"Yeah, and Bane" Kid Flash amended.

"Penguin and Harley as well" Batman stated. The team turned to him in shock.

"Penguin?" Miss Martian asked.

"One of Batman's veteran enemies – sane, too which is unusual in Gotham" Kid Flash explained.

"He was not mentioned in the briefing" Aqualad said.

"I didn't know until I saw his henchmen" Batman explained.

"So Joker, Harley, Bane, and Penguin? Anyone else?" Kid Flash asked. No one answered. The speedster turned to see that the others were already disappearing down the hall.

Apparently Batman had decided to continue on and the others noticed before he had and followed. Kid Flash caught up to the group quickly.

.

The group arrived at a double door with a smiley face painted on it in bright green. Batman sighed inwardly. He had checked and this was the only entrance to the room – probably why the villains had chosen it.

He mentally steeled himself for any insanity and or stupidity that they would encounter as he opened the door.

He was right about most of those there. Joker and Bane – of course – along with Harley and Penguin. They were, however, surprised to see Karasu there as well. He was standing as far away as possible from Bane while still remaining with the group. The pair was doing their best to ignore one another while still seeming angry about the other's presence.

"Batsie! So glad you could make it" Joker exclaimed stepping forward with his arms spread wide in greeting. Batman didn't reply, instead choosing to send the clown a less potent version of the batglare. No full version until he knew what the clown was up to – then he could amp it up.

"Awww, don't be so mean Batman. We're friends, right?" the villain asked with a pout – which looked incredibly twisted on his face.

"What are you up to Joker" Batman growled. The clown's face lit up with a creepy smile.

"I'm _so_ glad you asked. Well ya see, we're gonna take a big bomb" he paused making a large circular movement with his arms and laughed a bit at this point before continuing, "and blow up downtown Gotham and turn it into Jokerland!"

Karasu's head snapped to the clown's position, his eyes narrowing slightly. Penguin smacked Joker in the back of the head with his umbrella.

"That's not the plan, idiot" he grumbled, ignoring Harley's "Don't you hit Mistah J!" Joker tapped in chin.

"It's not, is it? But we are gonna blow up downtown Gotham though!" he exclaimed.

"And in the panic that follows we'll rob all the banks we can and steal the penguin statue from the museum that's on tour from Svalbard" Penguin finished with a greedy gleam in his eyes. Bane resisted the urge to roll his eyes thinking that the moment this was finished he would never talk to anyone here again.

Karasu seemed to come to some sort of conclusion before he clicked his tongue and started walking casually to the other side of the room…

.

**SORRY!**

**I know this took **_**forever**_**, but I looked over my plans for the story and I was getting close to the end (gasp!) and it felt rushed, so I've added some other events (including the one this chapter was about) that I had been thinking of and couldn't fit into the story otherwise.**

**The biggest thing is that whenever I went to write this I just couldn't get anything out – writer's block I guess. I didn't want to force it and end up with a crappy chapter, so I waited until I was really motivated to write again. Again – I'm so sorry it took this long!**

**I know Joker's kinda…yeah. I don't know – he's just eccentric in this fic. It makes me happy. **

**The next chapter'll probably take awhile, too. I haven't even started it yet 'cause I wanted to get this one out like as soon as I finished it. Hopefully it won't take as long as this one, though.**

**Oh yeah, Svalbard is a real place – it's an island north of Sweden… it's pretty far north so I figure it's…icy and stuff...maybe. They probably don't have penguins though…hmmm**

**Sorry again.**

**BYE! **


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer**: I own a great many things, but Young Justice is not one of them.

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

_Karasu seemed to come to some sort of conclusion before he clicked his tongue and started walking casually to the other side of the room…_

.

Chapter 12

The expressions of confusion on the faces of the heroes were mirrored by the villains – with the exception of Joker who seemed excited for some reason and Batman who was unfazed.

Karasu came to rest next to the group of slightly confused heroes. Everyone was silent for a moment wondering what was going on. Bane turned to glare at Karasu who glared right back.

"Why are you betraying us?" Penguin demanded.

"Why? How about I give you a list. One: I don't like the plan. Two: a chunk of my territory is in downtown Gotham and I will have no part in its destruction. Three: no one ever said that I couldn't switch sides. Four: You sir," he paused to point a Penguin, "just gave away your plan – which is a stupid thing to do. Five: I hate Bane. Six: I hate Bane. Seven – you know what? Seven through ten is that I hate Bane." He stated, counting each off on his fingers. Bane scowled.

"Niño" he growled.

"Baney-Boy" Karasu replied with a smirk. An excited shriek rang out.

"Baney-Boy! I love it! That's what I'll call you from now on" Joker exclaimed. Bane sent Karasu a this-is-all-your-fault-look. The bird simply shrugged – a satisfied look in his eyes.

"That's why you switched?" Harley questioned.

"Pretty much – besides, I like Flash Boy" Karasu added as he ran his finger slowly down the speedster's arm. Kid Flash stiffened then zipped over to Artemis, putting her between the bird and himself.

Then he realized who he was cowering behind and jumped away causing Karasu to laugh.

"Calm down dude, I was just kidding" he said.

"I knew that" the speedster grumbled.

"I'm switching sides too!" Joker suddenly exclaimed as he skipped to the other side of the room and took up position near Batman. The clown grinned at the Dark Knight and Batman glared in response.

"You can't switch sides, this is your plan!" Penguin yelled from the other side of the room.

"Oh yeah" Joker said with a laugh as he skipped back to the villains. Bane resisted the urge to face palm. Jail was far preferable to this madness. If only Joker hadn't broken him out. He sighed.

Joker noticed and started poking him repeatedly.

"What's wrong Baney-boy? Don't you know that every time you sigh you lose a little bit of happiness forever? You got to put on a biiiiig smile – like this!" he exclaimed pulling his lips upward even farther than they already were. Bane grimaced a bit at the sight.

Meanwhile the team was watching Karasu with suspicion. Batman was more concerned with watching the villains. Bane was probably going to punch Joker soon with the way things were going.

"So he's on our side now?" Miss Martian asked tilting her head slightly to the side.

"I guess" Artemis answered.

"Yeah, but can we trust him?" Kid Flash asked. Karasu scoffed.

"_No_ – did you not just see me switch sides? Of _course_ you can't trust me" Karasu exclaimed. "I swear I'm surrounded by idiots sometimes" he muttered. Batman nodded – he knew the feeling.

"What should we do Batman? Karasu himself has stated that we cannot trust him" Aqualad said. Batman turned away from the spectacle on the other side of the room. Joker was now up on Bane's shoulders attempting to force the man to smile while Harley cheered him on and Penguin looked as if he wanted to bang his own head into a wall.

"He may say that, but he's more likely to stay on our side since they are threatening his territory – which he will do almost anything for – and because he dislikes Bane. If nothing else Karasu will remain neutral" the Dark Knight replied.

"Awww, you know me so well" Karasu commented, a hand over his heart.

"That's so sweet" Joker said wiping away a false tear. He looked rather ridiculous doing so from his position on the floor.

Bane had finally had enough and thrown the clown off of his shoulders. Joker didn't seem to care.

"I know, right?" Karasu replied.

"It's weird that you get along so well with Joker" Kid Flash interjected. Both Karasu and Joker turned to him. The acrobat tilted his head just a bit.

"Well, once you get past the laugh, he's not so bad" Karasu said.

"Isn't he a horrible villain who's threatened a lot of people?" Miss Martian asked innocently.

"Yeah I guess, but that doesn't really affect his personality" Karasu replied. The team wasn't sure what to say to that.

"That's so nice! We should hang out sometime – maybe have weekly card parties!" Joker exclaimed.

"Sure, why not?" Karasu replied. Joker's face lit up.

"What about you guys – Penguin, Baney-Boy?" he asked.

"No" Bane replied shortly.

"Yeah, whatever - can we just get on with this? I have a penguin statue to steal" Penguin replied. Joker grinned and got up from where he was still laying on the ground then walked over to the villains. He cleared his throat dramatically.

"I say we pick up where we left off. Karasu just switched sides – what a plot twist. Aaaaand ACTION!" the clown exclaimed.

"What was my part in this plan anyway?" Karasu asked.

"Hacking the bank security to get the vaults open" Penguin said.

"Ah" Karasu replied.

"Are we gonna fight now or what?" Superboy asked – straight to the point like always.

"Ooooh I call Batsie!" Joker said hopping up in down.

"I'll take the speedster" Harley said with a sadistic smirk as she pulled out her rocket launcher.

Bane went to step forward, but as he did he noticed a flash of color out of the corner of his eyes. He looked down and found a scattered mess of red feathers.

"What the-" he started looking over to Karasu. "Where do you even carry these?" Karasu's eyes widened a little, disbelief showing in them.

He assumed a determined expression and marched over to the other side of the room. He stopped in front of Bane, plucked a feather from the end of his scarf, held it up at eye level while staring at Bane, and then dropped it.

Bane watched as the feather fluttered to the ground at his feet. When he looked up, Karasu was gone.

His eyes widened slightly in surprise and he looked around spotting Karasu back in his position next to the heroes.

Suddenly a loud boom echoed through the room followed by a yelp of surprise as Kid Flash darted out of the way of a missile. The resulting flash nearly blinded them and a shockwave was felt from where the missile slammed through some walls. The fight was on.

Superboy released a yell as he charged at Bane who was already pumping Venom into his veins. Knowing that this increased Bane's strength tremendously, Aqualad moved to help Superboy in his fight.

Penguin brought out his umbrella and started firing at Artemis. She dodged his shots, but didn't have enough time to shoot back.

Harley laughed as she fired missile after missile at Kid Flash. Miss Martian used her powers to redirect some of the projectiles enough for them to miss the speedster.

Joker charged Batman who threw some batarangs at the clown forcing him off course and knocking the knife he had pulled out from his hand.

Karasu stood idly by watching Artemis avoid being shot by Penguin.

.

**(Bane v. Superboy and Aqualad)**

Superboy collided with Bane, their hands locked as one tried to push the other back. Bane pumped a little more Venom and started to push Superboy back only to be smacked to the side by a water mallet - courtesy of Aqualad.

He recovered quickly and blocked a punch from Superboy. Bane kicked the clone away, watching him for his next move.

Aqualad accessed the water from the sprinkler system and created a large wave that he sent toward Bane.

Bane managed to throw himself out of the way in time and the wave surged across the room.

Superboy went to punch him again, but Bane caught his fist.

Suddenly they heard an odd boom and turned to see Penguin swinging his umbrella around. They stared for a moment then resumed fighting.

Superboy struck out, kicking the side of Bane's leg and forcing the villain to release him.

Aqualad got up behind Bane and, forming a sword with his water bearers, sliced through the tube pushing Venom into Bane's system.

Superboy grabbed the now weakened villain and threw him across the room and into a wall.

"Well done my friend" Aqualad said. Superboy smirked a little.

.

**(Harley v. Kid Flash and Miss Martian)**

Harley loosed missile after missile after the blur of yellow moving around the room – laughing all the while.

"Where did she even get that thing? Kid Flash yelled as a missile shot past him.

"I don't know, just keep moving" Miss Martian called back, redirecting one slightly so it wouldn't hit her friend.

This went on for awhile until Kid Flash somehow managed to get himself trapped in a corner. Harley smirked and pointed the missile launcher at him and pulled the trigger.

_Click_.

"Awww, I'm out of ammo" she whined tossing the weapon to the side dismissively. Kid Flash sighed in relief.

It was short lived, however, as Harley then pulled out a flame thrower. His eyes widened in shock and he zipped out of the corner to the other side of the room.

Miss Martian used her camouflage to stay out of site. There wasn't much she could do about fire.

Harley pulled the trigger and a stream of fire erupted from the end of the weapon. She smirked, an insane look in her eyes.

Suddenly Harley was knocked to the ground by a wave of water that came out of nowhere. The flame thrower clattered across the floor.

Miss Martian used her powers to lift the flame thrower into the air and out of reach. Kid Flash ran over and tied Harley up with some rope he found near a crate before she could get up and pull a new weapon from who knows where.

Harley immediately started wiggling around in a vain attempt to escape he bonds. She stopped momentarily when a noise echoed through the room.

They turned to see Penguin waving his umbrella, which looked...different through the air. He said something they couldn't quite hear, but they shrugged and went back to what they were doing.

"I think I'm done with Gotham, Batman can keep his crazy villains" Kid Flash said sitting down next to the struggling Harley. Miss Martian nodded in agreement.

.

**(Batman v. Joker)**

Joker pulled out another knife and threw it at Batman.

It missed. By a lot.

"Aww, I thought I could do that. Oh well" the clown commented pulling out yet another knife. He ran at Batman and tried to stab him, but the Dark Knight grabbed his wrist and wrenched it just enough to make him drop his weapon.

Batman, still holding Joker's wrist, spun around pulling the clown over his shoulder and throwing him to the ground. Batman went to stomp down his chest to hold him in place but Joker rolled out of the way and popped back up with a laugh.

Batman dropped down and swept Joker's feet out from under him and sending him back to the ground.

Joker just laid on his back laughing like a maniac as Batman pinned him down with a foot to the chest.

"It doesn't matter because I have this!" Joker exclaimed pulling out a red detonation button.

Batman kicked it out of his hand.

Joker pouted. It still looked creepy.

"Why do you ruin all of my fun" he whined as Batman cuffed him.

Both turned to Penguin's fight when an odd boom was heard. He was waving his umbrella aroung and it looked like it had exploded or something.

The question was how.

Penguin said something about cartoons before Joker's laughter drowned his voice out.

.

**(Penguin v. Artemis and Karasu?)**

Artemis sprung to the side to avoid Penguins latest barrage of bullets and noticed Karasu watching her fight out of the corner of her eyes.

"You could help you know" Artemis said glancing at Karasu. He raised an eyebrow

"Of course I do" the acrobat replied.

"Well?" the archer said gesturing to Penguin. She had to duck down immediately after to avoid getting shot. Karasu watched her passively.

"I'll do it when I get the inspiration" he said.

"Whatever" Artemis muttered as she finally got a shot in. The rotund man scrambled out of the way, her green fletched arrow _just _barely missing him. She launched a couple more arrows at him, but he had managed to get behind a crate and was reloading.

Artemis pulled her bow taunt and waited for the man to leave his cover.

When he did come out, umbrella positioned to fire once more, Karasu threw a knife knocking the umbrella up just enough for the shot to miss and giving Artemis enough time to shoot an arrow into the barrel of the disguised weapon. Penguin tried to shoot again anyway and the umbrella exploded.

Everyone paused in their respective fights to stare.

Penguin held the busted weapon up and looked at it with furrowed eyebrows.

A few silent seconds ticked by.

"What is this – a cartoon? Weapons don't actually do that!" Penguin exclaimed waving around his busted umbrella.

"Apparently they do" Karasu drawled.

Artemis shot an arrow at the villain's feet. It started releasing knock out glass and Penguin was soon unconscious. The archer walked over and tied the man up before turning to Karasu.

"So the inspiration struck you?" Artemis asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You could say that" he replied.

.

**The beginning of this chapter's kind of ridiculous, but it's just part of Joker being eccentric.**

**ARGHGSVERSFODS… I hate writing fight scenes, they take forever and I'm never really happy with them.**

**My sister (the one that names everything Steve – a reference you'd only really get if you read my other story An Unforgettable Trip) just started putting up a Naruto fanfiction called I See (It's really funny – very crack-ish), so she has a profile now - beware**

**h-t-t-p : /-/ kaiser00wilhelm . deviantart-.-com-/ # / d5858dn**

**(You know the drill remove all the hiphens (-) and spaces)**

**What's that a link to? I'm glad you asked. Kaiser Wilhelm drew a picture of Karasu (way better than mine) and it's on deviantart – so you guys should check it out. Seriously. Go now. Why are you still reading this? GO!**

**BYE!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer**: I still don't own that herd of fire breathing, seven-legged unicorns; therefore I still don't own Young Justice

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

_Artemis shot an arrow at the villain's feet. It started releasing knock out glass and Penguin was soon unconscious. The archer walked over and tied the man up before turning to Karasu._

"_So the inspiration struck you?" Artemis asked with a raised eyebrow._

"_You could say that" he replied._

.

Chapter 13

The villains were now tied up in a neat little group in the middle of the room awaiting the police to come and whisk them away. Penguin and Bane were still unconscious, much to Karasu's disappointment – he wanted to rub the Bane's loss in his face. As it was, he and was sitting criss-crossed in front of Joker and they were setting up card party nights: where they would be held, who was supposed to bring snacks, who to contact if they couldn't make it, the works.

"They were serious about that?" Kid Flash asked astounded.

"Apparently" Artemis replied.

Karasu stood up and ambled over to stand next to Kid Flash in the group of heroes.

"So, when are the cops supposed to get here?" he asked. Just as he said that the cops burst into the room.

"Now, it seems" the speedster said turning to Karasu. He was gone. Kid Flash spun around.

"But – he was just here! How does he _do_ that?" he exclaimed.

The cops took custody of the group of villains and left the warehouse to take them to jail.

"Well, that's that" Karasu said. Kid Flash screamed spinning around to see Karasu standing right next to him.

"Don't _do_ that!" he said holding a hand over his racing heart. The rest of the team seemed shocked as well. Karasu snickered.

"You still scream like a girl" he said. Kid Flash froze.

"What?" he asked quickly.

"Hmm?" Karasu replied.

"What did you just say?" the speedster asked.

"I said hmm" Karasu replied all innocence. Kid Flash's eyes narrowed a little in suspicion, but he didn't say anymore.

Batman turned to leave the room, the teens following the dark clad hero. They were in the hall near the entrance of the building when Kid Flash suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, wait" he said as he zipped away, when he returned he was holding Harley's flame thrower.

"Souvenir" he said with a grin. He lost his grip and the weapon slipped a bit. He accidently hit the trigger and a torrent of flames shot toward the group.

Well, more specifically toward Karasu. He got out of the way in time, but his scarf wasn't so lucky. The ends were incinerated almost immediately and the fire started moving up the length of cloth.

Karasu pulled the scarf off and dropped it in a pile on the floor. He looked up to Kid Flash with a raised eyebrow.

"heh, my bad" the speedster said rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, the flamethrower having been dropped on the ground. Karasu shrugged.

"Nah, it's alright" he said.

The group continued on, but stopped again at Batman's signal. He was standing next to a dusty window and outside was a large group of reporters. He narrowed his eyes slightly. When he turned back to the group of teens he noticed that Karasu was gone.

He smirked, not that anyone but Alfred would have been able to tell. The boy certainly knew when to disappear. He turned his attention to the team.

"Stealth exercise: don't let the press see you" the Dark Knight ordered. He proceeded to disappear into the shadows.

Kid Flash looked out the window and saw the growing group of reporters.

"Crap."

.

(Mt. Justice, next day)

They didn't make it. The press had managed to get a few pictures of them before they could get away. Nothing great, mostly blurs and silhouettes, but they'd still been caught.

Now they were back at the mountain waiting for Batman to come with their next mission.

M'gann was sitting next to Conner on the couch watching static. Kaldur was reading in the armchair and Artemis was poking Wally while he tried to play a hand held game.

"Anyone want snacks?" M'gann asked cheerfully. Superboy grunted in response.

"Sure" Artemis replied.

"You know it Babe" Wally said excitedly.

"If it is no trouble" Kaldur replied.

"Not at all" the Martian replied with a warm smile. She floated into the kitchen and opened the cabinet under the sink. She pulled out a tin holding the extra cookies from the day before. So far Kid Flash hadn't found the stash. She took some out of the tin and piled them on a plate before returning the remaining to their previous hiding spot.

M'gann turned away from the counter and screamed almost dropping the cookies she was holding on the ground. The team rushed to the kitchen immediately, but stopped short at the sight that greeted them.

Karasu was sitting on one of the stools at the island kicking his legs back and forth innocently.

M'gann looked slightly embarrassed as she turned to the team.

"Sorry about that, he surprised me – I didn't realize he was there" she said. Conner glanced between her and Karasu before turning around and heading back to the couch. Apparently he didn't deem Karasu a threat to them.

The remaining teens stared at each other in silence.

"Why are you here?" Artemis finally asked.

"Need to talk to Batman, figured he'd show up here sometime" Karasu replied easily. "And I didn't mean to startle you, I figured you all knew I was here" he added apologetically turning to M'gann.

"No that's alright, we probably should have. Honestly I don't know how we didn't" M'gann said. And really, how hadn't they? With a Kryptonian who had super hearing and herself, they should have noticed him.

"Would you like to join us in the TV room?" M'gann asked uncertainly. It didn't seem right to just leave him sitting in the kitchen alone.

Karasu glanced up at her; surprise showing in his eyes for a brief second before it disappeared and they crinkled up a bit indicating that he was smiling.

"Sure" he said sliding off the stool and following her out of the room.

M'gann set the plate of cookies on the coffee table in front of the couch and sat down.

Karasu stood behind the couch staring at the TV static that Conner was watching. He tilted his head before flipping over the couch and landing with a slight bounce. The acrobat rested his feet up on the coffee table and glanced at Conner.

"I love this part" he said. The clone's lips quirked up in an almost smile. The remaining teens were floored. Did that seriously just happen?

They shook their heads in wonder and settled around the room and started watching the static, too. It was kind of like team bonding – Superboy style. Well, team bonding with Karasu thrown into the mix.

Suddenly Karasu held up a piece of paper and waved it around in the air. The others looked at him in confusion.

"Here's your bill" the acrobat drawled. The team stared at him. Bill? For what? And who was he talking to anyway?

"For what exactly?" a deep voice replied from behind them, scaring the crap out of the team.

"Bane bowled through some of the walls at my place, took me awhile to figure out how much the damages would cost to repair" Karasu answered.

"You're going to repair it?" Batman asked raising an eyebrow.

"No, but that's hardly the point" Karasu replied indifferently.

"Why not bill Bane?" Batman asked.

"Please, why would I purposely contact _him_?" Karasu retorted, an appalled look on his face.

"Then why bill me?" the Dark Knight inquired.

"He's your villain so he's your responsibility" Karasu said like it was obvious.

"Hardly" Batman replied simply.

"Well, it's your city and therefore _your_ building then" the acrobat compromised.

"No, it's not" Batman said.

"You're impossible" Karasu stated.

"I try" Batman replied.

"Was that humor I detected there?" Karasu asked eyes wide in exaggerated astonishment.

"Not at all" Batman replied his stony expression masking the amusement he felt.

"Uh-huh" Karasu replied, completely unconvinced. "But we're getting off topic, what am I supposed to do about my walls?" he asked waving the bill around.

"Why did you allow him to destroy them?" Batman inquired.

"Not my fault the walls were flimsy" Karasu retorted.

"Then you shouldn't of let him hit them" Batman reprimanded. Karasu scoffed.

"Yeah, next time I'll just catch the five-hundred-pound-electricity-infused-cage flying at my head" the bird replied sarcastically.

Batman held back an amused snort as he turned to the team.

"Team, I have your next mission" he said. Karasu stood up and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Batman asked. Karasu, standing in the door way, looked back at him.

"I figured things like mission briefing were very hush-hush" he said with a shrug.

"Usually, but this pertains to you as well" Batman said. Karasu raised an eyebrow at this but flopped back onto the couch with an expectant look.

The team looked at Batman with some confusion. Why did it have anything to do with Karasu?

"I am sending you all back to Gotham-" Batman started.

"Why? Isn't Gotham your city? Please don't send us back!" Wally pleaded. He was going to die in Gotham at some point, that place was crazy.

"To investigate a string of museum robberies that have occurred lately" the Dark Knight finished, ignoring the speedster's interruption.

"Do you know who it is?" Kaldur asked.

"Based on what has been stolen it is safe to assume that Catwoman is behind these events" Batman answered.

"Is she crazy?" Artemis asked.

"No, but she is very difficult to catch" Batman said.

"I see" Artemis intoned.

"You need to be able to get into the museum with no one knowing. As such a hacker will be necessary on this mission" Batman said.

"And that's where I come in" Karasu stated.

"Correct. The team will also need someone who knows their way around Gotham" Batman continued.

"Why can't you do this?" Wally asked.

"I'm busy" Batman said curtly.

"Too busy to do something for your city?" Wally asked still looking for a way out of the mission.

"_I_ will be dealing with a massive break out from Arkham" Batman said. Wally's eyes widened.

"Oh" he said.

"What is the extent of your knowledge in hacking?" Batman asked turning away from Wally to Karasu.

"I really couldn't tell you, I can hack the League - so whatever level or extent that is" Karasu replied.

"How did you learn to hack?" the Dark Knight asked.

"How does anyone learn? It's not something taught in school or anything. I got the basics and some more advanced stuff from a hacker I knew and experimented from there. Sure, I made plenty of mistakes, but I was gone before any law enforcement could catch me. Otherwise it's just something I found I was rather good at." Karasu said with a smirk. Batman nodded.

"Where did you meet this hacker?" he asked.

"I was part of a small group in Metropolis for a little while. Mostly small time stuff – nothing you need worry about" the bird replied. Batman decided not to delve any deeper into it, he realized that this information was all he was going to get from the boy at this point. He turned back to the team.

"Your mission is to prevent any more robberies. Do you understand?" the Dark Knight asked.

"Yes" Kaldur replied.

"Good" Batman said. He turned to Karasu, "will you work with the team?" he asked.

"Will you pay for the repairs?" Karasu countered.

"No" Batman replied. Karasu turned back to the TV and let his head fall unceremoniously back against the couch – an air of disinterest surrounding him.

Batman sighed.

.

**Fair warning: I've got family coming up this weekend so I probably won't get to write too much. As such the next chapter will likely take a little while to come out, but it **_**will**_** come, no worries.**

**I'm actually really excited for it based on what I have planned :D**

**jordylilly777 also drew a picture of Karasu (I feel so loved). So here's a link to it, check it out.**

**h-t-t-p : /-/ browse-.-deviantart-.-com-/ ?qh=& section=&global=1&q=jordylilly777#/d58mmk3**

**(remove hiphens (-) and spaces)**

**Well, my family's gonna be here pretty soon – within the next couple of hours, so I got to go. Enjoy the chapter**

**BYE!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Young Justice or its characters

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

"_Good" Batman said. He turned to Karasu, "will you work with the team?" he asked._

"_Will you pay for the repairs?" Karasu countered._

"_No" Batman replied. Karasu turned back to the TV and let his head fall unceremoniously back against the couch – an air of disinterest surrounding him._

_Batman sighed._

.

Chapter 14

Karasu looked back up to Batman expectantly after hearing the exhale of breath.

"If I pay you, you _will_ aid the team, correct?" Batman asked.

"I suppose so" the bird replied.

"Fine, but only because it is necessary" Batman said. The team looked at Batman in shock.

"Are you seriously going to give him the money?" Artemis asked, surprised that the bat was giving into Karasu's demands.

"Yes, you will need a hacker for this mission and it would be near impossible to find another on such short notice" Batman replied curtly. The archer nodded in understanding.

Batman looked around at the assembled teens.

"Catwoman will not make a move until tonight, meet back here at six – four hours from now – understood?" Batman said.

"Yes, we shall be prepared" Kaldur replied with a nod.

"Good. Karasu, come with me" Batman ordered heading out of the room. Karasu remained where he was and raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" he asked. Batman's voice floated into the room from beyond the door.

"You need a new persona"

.

(Mt. Justice: 6 pm)

When the team arrived at the mission room at the instructed time they found Batman and someone they didn't recognize, but could only assume was Karasu.

He was in a totally different outfit, the only similarity being the color scheme. He wore a red tunic with black short sleeves and black Kevlar pants. He had black gloves that went up to his forearms. His boots were like the ones he normally wore, only with gray trim rather than red. Around his waist was a yellow utility belt resembling the one Batman wore. The hacker also had a black cape with yellow lining that came down to the back of his knees. The lower half of his face was uncovered, but he wore a domino mask with white, reflective lenses over his eyes.

They could tell that he had some sort of protective armor underneath his uniform like Batman wore. On the left side of his chest was a yellow 'R' situated within a solid black circle. They weren't sure what it stood for, but assumed that Karasu or Batman would explain.

"Karasu?" M'gann asked tentatively.

"The one and only, but please – call me Robin" The now dubbed Robin replied.

"Like the bird?" Wally asked.

"Why does everyone ask me that? Yes like the bird" Robin replied somewhat irritably.

"What did you mean when you said everyone was asking you that?" M'gann asked tilting her head slightly to the side.

"Well, when I first suggested the name Batman asked me the same question. Is there even another definition for the word robin?" the acrobat asked.

"The name 'Robin' hasGermanic roots and it means 'bright fame,' but I don't know of any other definitions for it" Conner replied. Robin looked up at him, eyebrows raised in surprise - he hadn't expected an answer to his question.

"I'm glad you know that" He ventured in response.

"So, where'd you get the new outfit?" Artemis asked.

"Batman had it specially made or something. He basically asked me what I wanted design-wise and three hours later, there it was. Pretty impressive actually" the bird replied.

"Why'd you need a new persona anyway?" Artemis asked.

"Apparently it wouldn't do for us to be caught and have people see me working with you. This way they would assume I was a new hero – Batman's words, not mine. Personally I don't see how we'd get caught" Robin said with a shrug.

"Well, we're kind of good at being caught actually" Wally said.

"Quite the skill for a team based on stealth" Robin drawled.

"What can I say, we're talented" the speedster replied with a grin.

"So the change is so you won't be recognized. You even changed the style of mask" Artemis pointed out. Robin grinned.

"I know, you all have seen most of my face now" he replied.

"All except for your actual eyes. Hey, did you see his whole face?" Wally asked turning to the Dark Knight.

"No, I was not in the room when he changed" Batman replied.

"Oh yeah, that would have been…awkward" the speedster amended sheepishly. Batman stared at him for a couple of seconds – just until he was getting uncomfortable – before turning to the rest of the group.

"If you are all done chatting, you have a mission to complete" he stated.

"I apologize, please continue" Kaldur said.

Batman pulled up a map of Gotham on the holographic screen. There were a few red dots and one green.

"I have narrowed down the possible locations of the next robbery. These are indicated by the dots on the screen. The green dot shows the most likely museum for Catwoman to show up at" he said. The teens nodded studying the map closely.

Batman zoomed into the area that included the green dot.

"The security at this museum is the second highest of all the museums in Gotham, but this will not deter Catwoman. Robin should be able to crack it without much trouble. Even so be careful, I don't want anyone knowing of your presence there" the Dark Knight explained.

"We understand" Kaldur stated.

"Good. Remember – you don't have to capture her, just prevent anything from being stolen" Batman said.

"Of course" the Atlantian replied. He turned and led the team and Robin toward the hanger.

When they boarded the bioship and M'gann had another chair form for the disguised Karasu.

"Cool" was all he said as he plopped down and seatbelts formed around him.

.

(Gotham)

The ride was uneventful and they soon arrived in Batman's city. Robin directed them to a rooftop near the museum where they could land.

Once the teens were all out of the bioship Miss Martian activated its camouflage to keep it hidden.

"So, what now?" Robin asked.

"Now our great leader gives us his orders" Kid Flash replied with a grin, gesturing to Aqualad.

"Well then 'great leader' what would you like me to do?" the bird asked turning to Aqualad who shook his head slightly with an amused look at the two's antics.

"You are to head inside to begin hacking the security. Kid Flash will accompany you and watch your back. The rest of us will take up position on each side of the building and watch for Catwoman" he said.

"Alright, do you have communication devices or anything?" Robin asked.

"We tend to use a mental link provided by Miss Martian" the Atlantian replied gesturing to the Martian. Robin pursed his lips.

"Is this only for communication or can it be used to delve deeper into a person's mind?" he asked.

"It can, but the team explained to me that doing so is considered rude on earth, so I only do that with the bad guys" Miss Martian explained with a smile. Robin looked apprehensive, but sighed.

"OK, but I'm trusting you not to dig around in my mind" he said.

"I won't betray your trust" Miss Martian replied seriously. Robin nodded.

"Now that everything is settled, Miss Martian will you please set up the link?" Aqualad asked.

"Of course" the Martian replied.

'_**Everyone here?'** _she asked after establishing the link.

'_**yes' **_Superboy answered.

'_**you know it, Babe'**_ Kid Flash said.

'_**yeah'**_ Artemis replied.

'_**yes'**_ Aqualad said.

'_**yep… this is weird'**_ Robin commented.

'_**It does take a little getting used to'**_ Kid Flash agreed.

'_**Alright team, Robin, you have your instructions. Move to your positions' **_Aqualad ordered. The other teens nodded mutely and moved to do their respective tasks.

.

(With Robin and Kid Flash)

Robin quickly unlocked the side doors of the museum - an emergency exit most likely - and disabled the alarm set on them. He moved silently into the building, Kid Flash close behind him.

The bird stopped at a corner holding a hand out to signal for the teen behind him to halt as well.

"Wha-?" Kid Flash started only to have a gloved hand cover his mouth.

"Shh, there's a camera around the corner, not sure if it picks up sound – probably why the side doors were so easy to get through. They'd catch any intruder as they rounded the corner" Robin whispered, his words barely audible at all.

Kid Flash merely nodded and Robin withdrew his hand. The ebony took a step back and studied the hall they were in.

"There" he whispered pointing to a vent high on the left side of the wall.

"How are you going to get up there?" Kid Flash asked quietly. Robin grinned.

"Just go stand by the wall under the vent and brace yourself" he instructed. The speedster furrowed his eyebrows at this but complied.

"Now what?" he asked facing the wall.

"Just brace yourself" was the reply.

Suddenly he felt Robin landing on his shoulders, his knees nearly buckled at the added weight, but he recovered instinctively - reaching up and grabbing the acrobat's legs to keep him still.

Kid Flash glanced up to see Robin unscrewing the vent from the wall. He handed the metal grate down to the speedster before pulling himself into the hole left behind. Kid Flash placed the vent cover gently on the ground and jumped up taking the hand offered to him from in the ventilation system.

Robin had a surprising amount of strength in his arms – Kid Flash discovered - as the ebony pulled the larger teen into the vent.

They crawled along for awhile eventually coming to a spot where they could see a computer through the vents. Robin removed the cover again, this time maneuvering it into the vent before dropping into the room.

Kid Flash followed, albeit a little less gracefully. Robin was already plugged into the computer trying to see if it was connected to the security system.

"It's connected, just got to get in to the security system" Robin muttered.

"Awesome, I'll tell the others" Kid Flash replied. Robin nodded absently, already starting to hack into the security.

'_**Hey guys, he's connected to the security'**_ Kid Flash said over the link.

'_**Good, remember to stay unnoticed'**_ Aqualad replied.

'_**Yeah, yeah, I know'**_ the speedster retorted. He turned and watched Robin typing away at the computer in his glove.

"Are you done yet?" Kid Flash asked after a couple of minutes.

"I'm sorry; did you want to do this?" Robin retorted glancing up from his computer at the speedster.

"Nope, just wondering how long it was going to take" the speedster said with a noncommittal shrug.

"More than five minutes" Robin replied absentmindedly, looking back at the screen in front of him. They lapsed into silence.

.

(Outside the museum)

Artemis was crouched on a rooftop on the north side of the museum when she caught a shadow out of the corner of her eyes.

'_**Hey, I think I saw something'**_ she reported through the mind link.

'_**What did you see?'**_ Aqualad asked.

'_**Just a flicker of movement near the side of the building – don't know if it was really anything. Should I investigate?'**_ Artemis asked.

'_**Yes, be careful'**_ Aqualad replied.

The archer stood and stretched her slightly cramped muscles before descending the building and following the direction she had seen the shadow moving in.

Artemis crept along the side of the building, sticking to the shadows as cover. She came around to the door Kid Flash and Robin had entered through.

She straightened out and inspected the area. It didn't look like anyone else had gone through the door.

'_**I don't see anything'**_ she reported.

'_**Alright, head back to your post'**_ Aqualad replied.

'_**Right'**_ Artemis said. The archer sighed as she turned to head back.

"Hmmmm, what do we have here?" A voice asked from behind her.

.

**This ended up being later than I expected. I knew I wouldn't be able to work on it over the weekend, like I said last chapter, but I wasn't home Monday and didn't have time to work on it on Tuesday or Wednesday either. So I started working on this chapter Thursday, spent a ridiculous amount of time on it and here it is Friday - well it's Friday where I live anyway.**

**So yeah, Dick's dressed like he usually is in the show. Hopefully that's the image everyone got. And I went ahead and referred to him as Robin while he was wearing the Robin outfit 'cause having the team call him Robin while using Karasu for everything else would be kind of confusing.**

**I think that's it…**

**BYE!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Young Justice

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

'**Alright, head back to your post'**_ Aqualad replied._

'**Right'**_ Artemis said. The archer sighed as she turned to head back._

"_Hmmmm, what do we have here?" A voice asked from behind her._

.

Chapter 15

Artemis tensed briefly before spinning around to face the owner of the voice. What she found was a woman in a black, full body suit, with a cat-eared cap that had a pair of red tented goggles pulled up over it. She wore tall, black boots and clawed black gloves. The front of the suit was pulled open slightly showing a black, collar-like choker around her neck. A coiled whip rested on her right hip.

"Catwoman" Artemis assumed. The woman hummed and cocked her hips to the side as she studied the green clad archer.

"Yes, but I have to wonder who _you_ are. Certainly not who I expected - you are neither tall nor dressed head to toe in black" Catwoman said.

"Batman was busy" Artemis said knocking an arrow on her bow.

"A pity" Catwoman replied.

'_**Catwoman's here, she snuck up on me' **_Artemis relayed through the mind link while keeping a close eye on Catwoman who was now studying the claws of her glove nonchalantly.

'_**That is not good. Robin, how close are you to finishing?'**_ Aqualad inquired.

'_**I'm just about – got it, I'm in full control of the security system'**_ the hacker replied.

'_**Good, Artemis, try to keep her occupied, Miss Martian, Superboy and I will be there as soon as we can. Robin, turn off the alarms and cameras – it would not be good if something was triggered accidently'**_ Aqualad ordered.

'_**Right'**_ Artemis replied.

'_**On it'**_ Robin said.

Catwoman went to move forward and Artemis pulled her bow up in warning.

"You aren't going anywhere" Artemis said.

"Oh, are you going to stop me?" Catwoman asked grabbing her whip and snapping it to the side with a flick of her wrist.

Artemis' eyes narrowed seeing the woman settle into a more threatening stance. When Catwoman started to move again she shot a taser arrow, but Catwoman skillfully dodged around the projectile and flashed her whip out toward Artemis. The end of it wrapped around the archer's bow and with a sharp tug, Catwoman yanked the weapon out of Artemis' hands.

Artemis scowled. Out of every weapon available she just had to use a whip, one of the few things the archer wasn't accustomed to fighting against.

She pulled out her miniature crossbow, but before she had a chance to load it she felt something wrap around her ankle. Glancing down she caught sight of the whip before her leg was pulled out from under her.

"Crap" she muttered yanking her foot away when the felt the tension in the whip slacken. The green clad archer rolled back and onto her feet quickly loading her crossbow and pointing it at Catwoman.

Catwoman flicked her whip back and forth restlessly.

"Come now, do you really think this will end any different than it did with your bow?" she asked.

'_**We're here'**_ Miss Martian informed. Artemis smirked.

"Yes" she answered. Catwoman raised an eyebrow at the girl's confidence.

Suddenly a loud yell sounded and both snapped their heads up to see Superboy coming at them from above with his fist cocked back.

The clone landed near Catwoman creating a sizeable crater. Miss Martian appeared next to Artemis and Aqualad arrived moments later.

"Ah, there's a group of young heroes. How charming" Catwoman commented. Superboy snarled and was about to charge until Aqualad grabbed onto his shoulder.

"Do not act hastily" he reprimanded quietly. Superboy grunted but let some of the tenseness in his muscles fade.

The teens watched Catwoman warily - waiting to see what she would do next. The woman's eyes flicked from one hero to the other. She suddenly broke out in a sprint heading straight for Miss Martian. The Martian dropped into a defensive stance, but Catwoman merely leapt over her head.

Not expecting this, the teens did not immediately respond, unfortunately this created a long enough lull for Catwoman to throw open the door behind M'gann and slip into the building.

"Sorry, I should have been able to stop her" Miss Martian said apologetically.

"Do not blame yourself Miss Martian, she surprised all of us" Aquald said.

"Yeah, it wasn't your fault" Artemis added. Superboy nodded in agreement.

She smiled a little at their reassurance.

'_**Kid, Robin, Catwoman made it into the building - make sure she doesn't get out with anything. We will meet you shortly'**_ Aqualad said.

'_**We're on it'**_ Kid Flash replied.

Artemis went up to the door and tried to open it. She pulled but nothing happened.

"Guys…it's stuck" she stated.

"She must have blocked it with something" Miss Martian said.

"Superboy, if you would – but be careful not to break anything" Aqualad said.

'_**We have encountered a minor problem, it may take us a little longer than I initially thought' **_the Atlantian relayed as Superboy got to work on the door

'_**No worries, we got this'**_ Kid Flash replied confidently. Aqualad sighed as he turned to watch Superboy attempt to open the door without ripping it off its hinges.

.

(Inside the museum)

"Well, looks like it's up to…us…" Kid Flash said trailing off as he looked around and found the hacker gone. "Ka-Robin?" he asked mentally kicking himself for almost slipping up and calling him Karasu.

"Yes?" a voice asked from his left making him jump.

"Don't do that!" the speedster exclaimed. "Where did you go?" he asked.

"Go?" Robin repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, where were you just now?" Kid Flash asked.

"Right here" Robin replied.

"I checked arou-" Kid Flash started.

"Behind you" Robin stated cutting the speedster off - his gaze locked over Kid Flash's shoulder.

"Now you're changing your story – were you right there or behind me?" Kid Flash asked furrowing his eyebrows.

"No, I mean _behind_ you" Robin said pointing to something past Kid Flash.

"There's nothing behind me Robin, I just checked while I was looking for you" Kid Flash said, a little frustrated that the hacker was avoiding his question.

"You really should listen when someone warns you about something" a female voice said. Kid Flash spun around eyes wide in shock.

"Oh…that's what was behind me, sorry" he said. Robin shrugged dismissively.

"So, Catwoman I presume" he called across the room.

"Yes, and you're Robin according to the young speedster, I didn't know the League had a little birdie with them" she said tilting her head to the side slightly.

"Most don't" the bird replied.

"Indeed" Catwoman replied with some amusement. Robin grinned and Kid Flash looked between the two in confusion.

"What's going on here?" he asked. Both looked at him.

"Just introducing ourselves" they replied at the same time. The speedster shuddered, still eyeing the two. That was a little creepy. The pair grinned at his discomfort.

"Ok, but seriously – we can't let you go" Robin said switching his attention from Kid Flash back to Catwoman.

"I assumed as much" the woman replied. "It's a pity really, I was starting to like you" she added smirking impishly.

"Likewise" Robin said.

"You're doing it again" Kid Flash complained. Robin looked at him and blinked.

"Sorry" he said.

"Shall we get things started then?" Catwoman asked.

"Of course, ladies first" Robin replied.

"My my, what a gentleman" Catwoman purred. She pulled her whip from where it rested once more on her hip and snapped it out to the side.

"Finally" Kid Flash said with a sigh. Hopefully things would go back to normal now.

"So how are we gonna do this – double team or one at a time?" Robin asked. Kid Flash shrugged.

"I don't usually think these things through. I tend to act first and regret my actions later" Kid Flash said.

"Seems intelligent" Robin drawled.

"It's never failed me before" Kid Flash said with a grin.

"Right" Robin replied skeptically.

"Boys, focus" Catwoman called.

"Yeah, yeah" Kid Flash said pulling his goggles down over his eyes and taking off toward her.

"You know, I don't think that's really –" Robin started as Catowoman wrapped the whip around Kid Flash's leg causing him to trip and tumble into the wall "a good idea" he finished.

"What happened?" Kid Flash asked rubbing his head where it hit the wall.

"You rushed in without thinking and are now regretting your actions" Robin replied. Kid Flash scowled.

"Shut up" he grumbled. Catwoman advanced on him, the whip held loosely in her hand.

Suddenly they heard a low whirring noise and looked up to see a batarang headed toward them only to miss by almost six inches. Kid Flash used the distraction as a chance to escape and zipped back to Robin's side.

"Is that what you were aiming for?" he asked gesturing to the wall.

"Nope" Robin said.

"How could you miss?" Kid Flash asked.

"Hey, I'm used to throwing knives, not batarangs" Robin said.

"What's the difference?" the speedster asked. Robin scoffed

"What's the difference, he asks" the acrobat mocked

"Hey it was a legitimate question" Kid Flash said defensively.

"Does this look like a knife to you?" Robin asked holding a batarang up in front of the speedster's face.

"Well…it sorta-" Kid Flash started.

"The answer to that question was no" Robin commented dryly.

"It's true" Catwoman piped in from the other side of the room. "A knife is traditionally thrown in an overhand or underhand motion and although it can be thrown from the side, it is less common. A batarang is thrown in a diagonal motion, usually from the shoulder of whatever hand is holding it and across the chest like a boomerang – hence the name." she explained.

"See, she knows what she's talking about" Robin said.

"Why are you two ganging up on me?" Kid Flash complained.

"Because you are ignorant young speedster" Catwoman drawled.

"And it's fun" Robin added with a smirk.

"Yeah, everyone just _loves_ to tease the speedster" Kid Flash grumbled.

"So, my turn then" Robin suggested, switching the subject back to the fight.

"Ooh - the little birdie's going to fight me now?" Catwoman asked.

"Yeah, let's see if this bird can't beat the cat" he replied.

"Such confidence" she noted as they both rushed forward at some unspoken signal.

Catwoman immediately lashed out sending the whip towards Robin's ankle with a flick of her wrist – apparently this was a favorite tactic of hers.

Robin nimbly leapt over it, twisting himself in the air to dodge a secondary strike. He dropped into a crouch and swept his legs out trying to knock Catwoman over, but she back flipped out of the way.

"You seem to know what you're doing" Catwoman observed, surprised that he could predict the movement of her weapon.

"You could say that" he said thinking back to his time in the circus. Sure, he'd never _fought_ someone who was using a whip seeing as he never fought anyone back then, but he'd seen enough people using weapon/tool to know how one works.

Robin pulled out another batarang and launched it at Catwoman. She shifted slightly and let it fly past her and into the wall. This time missing by only two inches.

"That was much better than last time" she stated.

"I'm a quick study" Robin replied with a smirk.

As Catwoman and Robin prepared to rush one another again, the rest of the Young Justice team burst into the room.

"Well things just got a little more difficult, didn't they?" Catwoman mused looking over the group of teens. She tilted her head in thought. "Well since this seems like it will take awhile and I have other places to be, I suppose I'll let you all win this round." She stated.

"You're just giving up?" Artemis asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh no, I'll be back some other time I assure you" the woman said leaving the room.

"We can't just let her go!" Kid Flash exclaimed.

"Remember what Batman said. It was not our mission to capture her only to prevent her from taking anything" Aqualad admonished.

"Besides, if we got into a fight we'd probably cause more damage to the building" Artemis said.

"More damage?" Robin asked.

"Catwoman blocked the door in with a chair which is now in the dumpster beside the building. Plus there's a small dent in the door" Artemis explained.

Someone suddenly touched Kid Flash's shoulder from behind and blew on the back of his neck causing him to screech before zipping away.

Catwoman smirked and walked over to the disguised Karasu and leaned on the wall next to him.

"Hmm, the boy screams like a girl, doesn't he?" she commented.

"Yes, yes he does" Robin agreed.

"Didn't you have somewhere to be?" Kid Flash asked irritably from where he was hiding behind Superboy.

"Yes, but I just couldn't resist" Catwoman replied.

"I know - it's so much fun" Robin agreed.

"How'd you get back in without anyone noticing anyway?" Kid Flash asked ignoring their exchange about how much they enjoyed messing with him.

"One of my many talents" she replied. And just like that she was gone again. The team left the building – alarm back up and running. Kid Flash constantly checked over his shoulder to make sure no one was sneaking up on him.

It was surprising that he didn't notice Robin vanish – none of them did until they reached the building where the bioship was waiting and found him standing there in his usual outfit – minus the scarf of course.

"When did you-?" Artemis started only to shake her head, "never mind, I don't want to know." Karasu grinned mischievously in response, not that they could really tell since his mouth was covered once more beneath a mask.

"Thank you for your assistance Karasu" Aqualad said gratefully.

"Not a problem, it was fun" the ebony replied.

"I'm glad you think so" Kid Flash muttered.

"Come team, we must get back to the mountain" Aqualad stated as Miss Martian prepared the bioship.

Karasu watched as the bioship took off, going back into camoflauge and – presumably – flew off into the distance. A form materialized from the shadows behind him and sauntered over.

"Aw, the little bird's been left all by his lonesome" Catwoman said in a mock pitying tone.

"You knew?" Karasu asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It wasn't that hard to figure out – I do live in Gotham after all, I've heard of you _Karasu_" she replied.

"Well, since you know who I am, how would you like to join Joker, Harley, Penguin and myself at the first of what we hope will become our weekly card party night"

"Sounds delightful."

.

**Sorry, this took way longer to get out then I had anticipated, but in a sort of apology, this chapter's longer than normal n_n**

**I went for what I **_**believed**_** to be the newest version of Catwoman - outfit wise. Which would be the one from Batman: Arkham City. I really didn't know how to describe her 'cap' it kind of reminds me of an aviator's cap or maybe that of a biker? I'm not sure so I just called it a cap even if it's not really accurate. Just look up "Catwoman Arkham City images" if you want to see a picture of her.**

**And if you want to see another picture of Karasu search this link for the one drawn by MizukiNeko96 on DeviantArt:D**

**h-t-t-p : / / browse . deviantart-.-com-/ ?order=9&q=mizukineko96&offset=24#/d59r5ow**

**(remove all hiphens [-] and spaces)**

**On a completely unrelated note, Men in Black II was on while I was typing this and at one point K looks up into the sky at the stars and I was like 'psh, you can't see the stars in New York City…or I don't think you can anyway'**

**Yeah**

**BYE!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer**: I don't own any of the characters in this fic

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

"_Well, since you know who I am, how would you like to join Joker, Harley, Penguin and myself at the first of what we hope will become our weekly card party night"_

"_Sounds delightful."_

.

Chapter 16

Batman was waiting at the mountain when the team returned. The teens filed in and situated themselves in a line in front of the Dark Knight.

"Report" Batman ordered. Kaldur took a step forward.

"The mission was successful. We did encounter Catwoman and Artemis engaged her briefly before she entered the building. Kid Flash and Karasu were inside and Catwoman blocked the entrance delaying Artemis, Miss Martian, Superboy and my own entrance for a few minutes. During this time Karasu engaged her and held her off until we could catch up. Catwoman then decided that she did not have the time to combat all of us and left" he explained.

"Were there any problems with the security system?" Batman asked.

"No" Kaldur replied.

"Good. Well done team – you are dismissed" Batman stated. Kaldur nodded and left the room with the rest of the team.

.

Conner had been the first to get into the living room and therefore had control of the TV. So, of course, they had been watching static – for the last _two hours._ Finally Wally couldn't take it anymore.

"This is boring, I'm going to bed" he stated.

"It's only nine – you still got a bed time?" Artemis asked.

"Shut up – it's better than sitting here bored out of my mind" the speedster retorted.

"Whatever Baywatch" Artemis replied.

"Good night" Kaldur said as Wally left the room.

"Sleep well" M'gann called after the speedster.

.

Wally opened his eyes and blinked tiredly before grabbing his phone to check the time. It was 10:00pm; he'd only slept for an hour.

The speedster sighed and flipped around and away from the wall that was next to his bed. Wally suddenly found himself looking into a pair of purple and blue eyes…less than five inches from his own. He did what anyone would do in a situation like this – he screamed and tried to distance himself.

Unfortunately this only resulted in him smacking into the wall – hard. The speedster yelped and rubbed the spot where his head had met the wall.

"What the heck dude?" Wally exclaimed. Before Karasu could answer the rest of the team burst into the room all asking questions at the same time.

"What happened?" Kaldur asked

"Are you OK?" M'gann asked.

"Why's Karasu here?" Artemis asked.

"What's with the cape?" Conner asked.

"Cape?" Wally inquired once he sorted out their hastily asked questions. The team took a moment to look over Karasu and he was, in fact, wearing a cape.

It was a little longer than his 'Robin' cape and was black with red lining on the inside. Or at least, that was what it looked like – if one really studied it they would find that the 'red lining' was actually a layer of sleeked down, crimson colored feathers.

"What? I said I'd get something new when you decimated my scarf and I liked the cape" Karasu said.

"So what happened?" Artemis asked.

"Karasu just scared the crap out of me" Wally replied.

"What did he do?" Artemis asked.

"He was staring at me in my sleep" Wally stated.

"I wasn't staring" Karasu retorted.

"Then what do you call it?" Wally asked.

"I was watching to see how long it would take you to notice me" the bird explained.

"That's creepy" Wally commented.

"Thank you" Karasu replied with a grin.

"Ok, changing the subject – why are you here?" Artemis asked after a moment of semi-awkward silence.

"Batman sent me to test how you all would react if someone infiltrated the mountain. You fail" Karasu said.

"He did?" M'gann asked.

"No" Karasu replied.

"Then why _are_ you here?" Artemis asked.

"They were demolishing a building a couple blocks away from my place and the amount of noise they were making was unbearable" the ebony replied.

"So you came here?" Artemis asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep" Karasu answered.

"Because?" Wally prompted.

"Figured it'd be entertaining" Karasu replied with a shrug.

"So how's that going for you?" Artemis asked.

"So far? Pretty well" the bird answered.

"Um, could we maybe move this conversation somewhere else?" Wally interrupted.

The other teens looked around taking in the room and realized that they were all pretty cramped in the small space.

"I believe that would be wise" Kaldur replied.

Once the teens had relocated to the living room they settled on the available seating and resumed their conversation – the TV still playing static in the background.

"So what do you plan to do now that you're here?" Wally asked.

"I don't know" Karasu replied with a shrug.

"We can have a sleepover like they do on TV" M'gann exclaimed excitedly clapping her hands together.

"I don't know if that's a great idea" Artemis commented.

"Why not? It would be fun" M'gann said.

"Well because he's…" the archer turned to see Karasu flipped upside down on the couch kicking his feet in the air over him. She was going to explain how they couldn't be sure what his true intentions were and that he could still be dangerous, but seeing him acting like that just threw all credibility for any such argument out the window. "You know what? Never mind, do whatever you want."

M'gann turned to Kaldur for the final say. Her eyes were filled with so much excitement and hope that he couldn't possibly say no. The Atlantian sighed.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt. He has not done us any harm yet" he said.

"Yay! I'll make snacks" M'gann exclaimed cheerfully as she disappeared into the kitchen.

"So, what now?" Wally asked.

"I don't know – I'm the guest. Isn't it the host's job to pick activities?" Karasu replied.

"You're an uninvited guest" Artemis chimed in.

"Yes, but apparently not unwelcome" Karasu countered.

"He's got you there" Wally commented. Artemis rolled her eyes.

"Whatever" she said

"If I am not mistaken – I believe that watching movies is a common 'sleepover' activity" Kaldur suggested.

"True" Wally said nodding.

"So, should we watch a movie?" Artemis asked.

"What movie?" M'gann asked walking in from the kitchen.

.

(An hour of arguing later)

"How about we _not_ watch a movie?" Karasu suggested.

"Sounds good to me" Wally said – they obviously weren't going to agree on what to watch.

"Yeah, but what are we gonna do?" Artemis asked.

"We could play a game" M'gann said.

"Oh, I know one. I played it a few times when I was at a friend's house - it's called Murder Mystery. You get some slips of paper and mark one with a 'D,' another with an 'M' and the remaining each get marked with an 'S.' The person who gets 'D' is the detective, 'M' is the murderer and the 'S's are all potential victims. You play music and turn the lights out, then the murderer touches one of the potential victims and they scream or yell to alert the others. The light turns back on while the person who was 'killed' lies on the floor where they 'died.' Everyone else has to stay where they were when they heard the scream until the lights turn on. Then the detective asks questions about everyone else and decides who the murderer was" Wally explained.

"Wow Baywatch – what kind of people do you hang out with?" Artemis asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" he asked.

"What kind of kid plays a game about murder?" She elaborated.

"We got the idea from a book about party games – we didn't make it up" Wally defended.

"Whatever, we might as well try it out" Artemis conceded.

"I'll get everything!" M'gann volunteered excitedly. She returned shortly after with several marked slips of paper and a small bowl.

"Ok, now everyone get a paper" Wally instructed. "Who's the detective?" the speedster asked.

"That would be me" Karasu replied waving the slip back and forth.

"Alright, you go to the side and wait for someone to get killed – you also have to turn the light on afterwards" Wally said. Karasu nodded and walked over to the light switch and leaned against the wall.

"I shall get the music" Kaldur said as he went to the radio.

"Turn out the lights. Let's get this started." Wally exclaimed. Karasu flipped the switch and the room was blanketed in darkness.

It was quiet for awhile, then a yell sounded and Karasu flipped the lights back on.

Wally was laying face down on the floor next to the couch. The others were standing randomly around the room.

"Baywatch would be the victim" Artemis commented drawing a muffled 'Hey!' from the speedster.

"Dead people don't talk" the archer scolded. Unintelligible grumbling was all she got in response.

"Let's start this investigation then" Karasu said. The 'living' teens all took a seat as the bird walked over.

"Ok, I want everyone to tell me where they were when he died" Karasu said.

"I was about two feet left of him" Artemis replied.

"I was on the other side of the room" Kaldur said.

"I was about three feet left of Artemis" M'gann answered with a smile.

"I was with M'gann" Conner said bluntly.

"Well that rules out Kaldur since he wasn't anywhere near the victim" Karasu said. "Now Artemis and Wally don't seem to get along making him a potential target were she the murderer. Though we must factor in that it was dark so it would be tough to find him and that it would be far too obvious. Of course, this could also be a random act. Now, M'gann doesn't seem the type to just go and 'kill' someone – she would have to gather the courage so there would have been more time before the crime. On the other hand Conner would just get it over with immediately. That leaves just one suspect"

"You're saying I'm the murderer?" Artemis asked.

"Not at all" Karasu replied.

"Then who did it – you already ruled everyone out" Artemis said furrowing her eyebrows in question.

"Not everyone" Karasu said.

"I am afraid that I do not follow your logic" Kaldur said.

"Me neither" M'gann agreed.

"Ah, but the answer is obvious – the victim killed himself" Karasu stated. They stared at him in silence.

"What?" Artemis finally asked.

"He killed himself" the bird repeated.

"I was so sure that you wouldn't get it" Wally whined picking himself off the ground.

"You seriously killed yourself?" Artemis asked.

"I thought I could fool him" Wally said.

"You are quite the detective" Kaldur said turning to the bird.

"Thanks" Karasu replied.

They played a few more rounds before deciding to try the movie idea again. Each picked a movie and they watched them as a marathon. By the time they got to the last movie everyone was asleep.

.

(Morning – next day)

Wally woke up and stretched his stiff muscles. He glanced around seeing Conner watching static, Kaldur reading and Artemis in the process of waking up like he was. From the clatter he was hearing from the kitchen he assumed that M'gann was fixing breakfast.

So just another normal day.

…

Wait.

"Where's Karasu?" Wally asked. Kaldur looked up and furrowed his eyebrows slightly.

"I have not seen him" the Atlantian replied.

"Do you think he left?" Wally asked.

"Who knows" Artemis replied standing up and stretching her arms over her head.

"I do" a voice said from behind her. She let out a startled yelp and spun around.

"Don't do that!" Artemis exclaimed. A snicker caught her attention and she turned to Wally.

"What are you so happy about?" She asked the speedster irritably.

"Just glad it's not me for once" he replied.

"I think I prefer it to happen only to you" Artemis said.

"Where were you anyway?" Wally asked turning his attention to Karasu.

"In the rafters" the bird replied.

"Why?" Wally asked.

"I was sleeping" Karasu replied in an obvious tone.

"In the _rafters_?" Artemis asked.

"Yes" Karasu said. Wally and Artemis stared at him.

"Are you serious?" Artemis finally asked.

"Always" Karasu replied.

"And you slept in the rafters?" Wally asked.

Before he could answer a loud crash echoed through the mountain.

"What the heck was that?" Wally asked.

"I don't know – but it sounded like it was coming from the garage" Artemis replied.

"Let us investigate" Kaldur said. The others got up and followed the Atlantian down the hall.

When the teens arrived they looked around wondering what could have happened. The garage was a wreck.

Superman was in the middle of it staring intently at something that was flying around Batman's head. Suddenly he used his heat vision and fried whatever it was. Batman didn't so much as flinch when the beams flew directly past his face.

"Got it" Superman stated cheerfully.

"Yeah" Batman intoned.

"What happened here?" Wally asked. Superman looked up noticing the teens for the first time. Then he looked around at the destruction.

"Whoops" he said adopting a sheepish expression.

"Yes, whoops" Batman agreed in a monotone.

"What did you do?" Wally asked.

"Well, you see – there was this bee, and it was…bothering Batman so I decided to get rid of it, but it was tricky and kept getting away. Right Batman?"

"No" Batman replied shortly.

"So you destroyed the garage because of a bee?" Artemis inquired.

"Yes, he did – for what reason, I don't know. The bee can't physically hurt him" Batman replied.

"I don't like bees!" Superman exclaimed defensibly.

"We can tell, seeing as you just annihilated one" Batman replied.

A strangled noise sounded from the left side of the room and the heroes turned to find Karasu, who had apparently been wandering around while they talked, staring wide-eyed at a motorcycle none of them recognized.

It looked terrible, it was dented all over, parts had fallen off and the paint was scratched almost completely off. All in all it looked like someone had thrown the bike into a wall. Judging by the impression in the wall that was roughly the same size – it probably was.

"YOU" Karasu snarled spinning around and sending Superman a scathing glare. The Man of Steel nearly flinched at the venom in his tone. "If you ever get _anywhere_ near my baby again I will _end_ you - even if I have to use freaking Kryptonite to do it."

"You don't have Kryptonite" Superman interrupted.

"How would you know? Did you check, 'cause that's a little pedophilic Mr. X-ray Vision" Karasu countered. Superman blanched and shook his head furiously.

"N-no," he spluttered, "but I still know that you don't have any" the Man of Steel defended.

"Then I'll _get_ some – it's not as hard as you seem to think" Karasu retorted.

"There's no way getting Kryptonite is that easy" Superman said.

"I'm sure Joker wouldn't mind lending me some of his" Karasu retorted.

"Joker doesn't have-" Superman started.

"Yes he does" Batman interrupted calmly.

"WHAT? Why have you never told me?" Superman exclaimed.

"It wasn't important" Batman replied.

"How was it not important? The guy's psychotic – who knows what he would do with it!" Superman cried throwing his arms into the air.

"HEY. One: do not talk about him like that – _got it_?" Karasu growled - the very air around him screaming 'danger.' The Kryptonian could only gulp as the bird continued.

"Two: It doesn't matter _where_ I get it from. Just know that I _will_ get it and when I do I will not hesitate to shove it through your freaking 'million different visions' eyes and right into your brain. Unless I'm feeling merciful, then I might just embed a few pieces in each of your joints so that every time you move the pain you feel from it will get _that_ much worse. And if you have them removed I'll just do it again. Do you _understand_?" Karasu threatened, his eyes narrowing into a glare at the end.

Superman nodded meekly.

"Good" Karasu said before turning and going back to his bike. He gently pulled it back into an upright position – taking in all of the external damage that had been done to it. The ebony pulled his key out of some sort of compartment in his glove, inserted it into the key slot, and turned.

The engine made a spluttering noise then died.

Karasu's head snapped back around to Superman – his eyes accusing and promising revenge. Superman shuddered.

"He's almost as scary as Batman when he's mad" Superman commented lowly.

The other heroes present nodded in agreement.

Except Batman, he almost felt proud of the young hacker.

Conner broke away from the group and went to the other side of the room retrieving a tool box. The clone walked up to Karasu who was attempting to remove the mangled metal surrounding the motor of his bike.

Conner placed the box next to the pissed off bird and pulled out a tool offering it to Karasu. When the smaller ebony took the proffered tool, Conner took out another and started to help him fix his bike.

The remaining heroes stood by, amazed that Conner had even approached the bird in his current state. Though it soon became apparent that Karasu was not, in fact, going to attack him like they were thinking.

"I'm going to help them" Wally decided walking toward the pair.

"Psh, like you even know _how_ to fix a motorcycle Baywatch" Artemis scoffed following after the speedster.

"I'll go make refreshments" M'gann said with a smile.

"I believe I shall accompany you – I know little about motorcycles" Kaldur said.

"Ok" M'gann replied cheerfully.

"Well this is weird and I'm going to leave before he kills me" Superman said.

"He wouldn't kill you" Batman stated.

"Yeah well, I don't want to be maimed" Superman replied already heading for the zeta beams. Batman rolled his eyes and left the room.

.

**Yeah Superman chased a bee around and broke everything, it's stupid – sue me. I didn't know what else to do and I didn't want to wait until I thought of something half decent since that would probably take me another couple of days and I'm already so late I don't even want to consider it. My sister actually suggested it as a joke, but it was all I had so I just thought 'why not?' I mean, in my last chapter story I used plant spore zombies – so really this isn't much of a step down from that**

**The sleepover thing was suggested by NotNight and the Superman wrecking Karasu's bike was also suggested by a reader, BakaCHICK123.**

**I started school and times that I would normally use to write are being used for less tasteful activities such as homework and reading text books**

***shudders***

**Once I adjust to the schedule and everything I'll get better with my updates so bear with me for a little while**

**On the flip side, this chapter ended up being insanely long – like really, really long (for me – it's almost 3000 without the recap and author's note) so that's something…**

**BYE!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer**: I still don't own this

.

**A/N:** I'm going to answer some stuff here, so if you don't care – skip on to the "previously" thing. Some of the questions will have the name of the person who asked, but if it's one a bunch of people have asked then I'll just put the question without a name.

**When is Batman going to learn that Karasu is Dick?**

Ok, several of you have asked about Batman finding out Karasu's identity. Well, he's working on it, but seeing as Dick was technically declared dead four years ago – it would be difficult to narrow it down to him. He might consider it, but he won't know for sure that it's Dick until near the end of the story.

**Ecorum: ****is this ever going to have a plot or is it going to be more of a sand box day to day deal**

There is a plot; I've just kind of deviated from it for a bit to add some random encounters and other little events that I thought of and couldn't get out of my head. I am getting back to the plot though, so no worries. Sorry 'bout that, I know it can get annoying sometimes.

Dreamer-.- LYNX: **Well I liked it… *thinks* You could always use an episode, even alter the outcome a bit so they either trust him more or are more suspicious.**

I've thought about that actually, but I'm not sure which one would work right now. I used the first episode and have hinted at events of other episodes – like the mission where they went to Santa Prisca and blew up Bane's factory and the episode with the F.O.G. where they protected Dr. Roquette from Cheshire and the other League of Shadows assassins. So it would have to be one after that. I'm not even sure if I'm going to use another episode since I'm not sure it would fit into the story at this point. But it's a good suggestion n_n

Hane no Zaia: **First of all, I have to say that I love the idea of Robin as Karasu and all, and I believe it to hold quite a bit of potential.**

**However, I can't help but be slightly bothered by Karasu's seemingly extensive resources, insane hacking skills and fighting prowess. Even if he is a genius, I can't help but feel that he's simply too strong and such, and that it isn't very realistic for him to have obtained all that on his own. Admittedly, I believe you did hint at him having been a part of some group in Metropolis or something along those lines, but I would seriously love to learn just how he got to the level he's on at the moment. In other words, some backstory would be greatly appreciated**

**Cheers.**

Um, Ok where to start? I'm not sure what you mean by extensive resources – he really hasn't used that much. I mean, he bought his motorcycle with money that he stole from Joker and the listening device he used when he first saw Bane was just that, a listening device – I don't think it's too illogical for him to have come across one or taken one from somewhere. The grappling hook – again he could have just taken it from somewhere or found a design for it and built one himself. The anti-venom stuff he got 'cause he blackmailed a scientist into making it. Next, I don't think that many hackers are formally trained. It's not something that is smiled upon after all. For the story it's just something that he took to, a natural talent I guess. He got the basics from another hacker and improved his skills over time. As for fighting? I honestly can't see where everyone is coming from. He's been in what, three fights? The first one with Bane he got lucky and managed to slice Bane's Venom tube thing, the next one he employed hit and run tactics, staying out of Bane's range and administering the Anti-Venom serum using a surprise attack. Then in the fight with Catwoman he just dodged the whip a couple of times and he could do that because of growing up in a circus where he learned how whips moved added to his acrobatics – he didn't even land any hits.

As for his back story, that will come towards the end of the story. It's not like he's going to randomly think about it or just spill his life story to someone. It'll be like right after they find out his identity.

.

.

**THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO READS AND REVIEWS!**

.

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

"_He wouldn't kill you" Batman stated._

"_Yeah well, I don't want to be maimed" Superman replied already heading for the zeta beams. Batman rolled his eyes and left the room._

.

Chapter 17

"Well that was out of line" Catwoman said.

"Why would anyone want to kill a bee? They do such good for my babies" Poison Ivy added, Harley nodding along.

"I know right? I mean who does that? We spent three hours just trying to get her to start, and I don't even want to think about how long it's gonna take to buff out all the dents" Karasu complained.

"Why don't you just get another?" Penguin asked looking up from his cards. Karasu gasped dramatically.

"I will _not_ abandon my baby – how could you even suggest that!" he exclaimed.

"Sorry, jeez kid - calm down" Penguin said. A card smacked him hard in his forehead nearly drawing blood.

"Ow!" the man cried rubbing a hand over the spot.

"Don't call me kid" Karasu said.

"Oh-ho, someone has a little pet peeve" Catwoman commented. Karasu shot her a half-hearted glare then shrugged.

"We all have something, right?" he asked.

"And some of us have more than one, what with all I've heard about you and Bane-" Catwoman said.

"Do not speak of _him_" Karasu growled.

"He and Baney-Boy just don't get along. Not that I can't see why, Bane's such a _bore_" Joker said.

"I said don't speak of him!" the ebony exclaimed.

"Aw, Pudin' you shouldn't rile him up like that" Harley said.

"It's all in good fun Harley" the clown replied.

"Can we get on with this?" Penguin asked gesturing to the cards set out in front of them.

"Yeah, I guess. Whose turn was it?" Karasu asked.

"Joker's I believe" Poison Ivy replied. They all turned to Joker.

"I have four royal flushes!" the clown cried throwing his cards into the air – extra cards flying out of his sleeves.

"We're playing Go Fish right now Joker" Karasu said. "Besides I have five royal flushes" he added in a playfully competitive tone.

"Darn" Joker intoned before bursting into crazed laughter. "Well then, do you have any jokers?" the clown asked after calming down.

"There aren't any jokers in Go Fish, idiot" Penguin said ignoring Harley's rebuke about him calling Joker an idiot.

"This is why we can't play a more complicated game – you keep screwing with the rules!" the rotund man complained.

"What's wrong with Go Fish?" Catwoman asked.

"It's a child's game. Besides, you only like it because it has 'fish' in the name" Penguin grumbled.

"Hmmm, even so it can be a challenging game" Catwoman replied.

"I hardly see how" Penguin retorted.

"You have to be able to read your opponents so that you ask for the right card" Catwoman elaborated.

"Or you can just guess" Penguin sniffed indignantly.

"Yeah, but that's how you play, not how you _win_" Karasu interjected. Catwoman nodded in agreement. Penguin rolled his eyes and sighed.

"What are we doing?" he asked.

"Card night" Karasu answered with no hesitation.

"I know that," Penguin retorted, "I mean why? How did we end up gathered here playing cards?" he asked.

"Because it's fun" Joker replied.

"I really wouldn't know, Harley showed up and dragged me here" Poison Ivy said.

"Aw, come on Red, live a little" Harley admonished.

"You agreed to it when we were discussing having card nights" Karasu said still focused on Penguin.

"Yeah, because we were in the middle of a fight – unless you have forgotten" Penguin grumbled.

"Now Penguin, it's not good to go back on your word" Joker mock scolded.

"What did I do to deserve this?" the man mumbled. He was ignored as the others continued the game and Joker cried 'Uno!' in the background.

.

(Late that night – an alley in Gotham)

Recently there's been activity from a new gang in the area. This group had been going around proclaiming their authority over the smaller gangs that still hung around in his territory. It was about time for him to teach these upstarts just who ran things around here.

Karasu had been following the group for some time and he knew that they were planning something tonight. He shadowed some members as they made their way through the maze of alley ways.

When the thugs arrived at their destination they joined the rest of their gang that was already loitering around there. Karasu watched intently from the shadows to see what they would do. The men talked noisily to one another. Everyone within a 500 foot radius could likely hear them so they obviously weren't trying to be stealthy. That or they were just stupid. He was betting on the latter.

"Shut up!" a bald man sporting a goatee demanded, stepping onto a crate so that the entire group could see him.

'_So Mr. Goatee here's the leader'_ Karasu thought, cataloguing the information in the back of his head dully – he didn't think it would be important, but he might as well know it. The unruly group eventually quieted down so that the man could give his speech.

"Alright scum bags," Mr. Goatee started, this didn't seem to bother those present, so it was apparently a term they were used to. "You all know why we're here tonight, don't you?" he continued.

"Yeah" the gathered thugs chorused.

"Good. After tonight we're gonna be top dogs 'round here" their leader stated. The others cheered waving their various weapons in the air above them. More than one ended up smacking their neighbor in the back of the head with said weapon.

Idiots.

'_Shouldn't they try to be quieter?'_ Karasu wondered idly.

"Yeah, that Carso don't scare us!" a random thug exclaimed.

'_Carso? That's just insulting'_ Karasu thought scanning the crowd for the man who said it._ 'There you are, you're going down buddy' _he thought spotting the offender. The man shuttered and looked around, but shrugged when he didn't find anything.

"Yeah, I don't think Kabsu exists anyway. He's just something the idiots around here see in the shadows" one man said.

'_You, you're added to my list'_ the acrobat thought glaring at the man who had just spoken.

"You don't think at all" another thug rebuked earning laughter from the others gathered..

"None of you idiots think – that's my job" Goatee stated claiming their attention once more. "Ok, now all of you morons need to split into four groups" he paused while they followed his orders. "Good. Each group will be responsible for taking out the leader of one of the four gangs in the area, understand."

"Yes" the group chorused again.

'_Seriously - they're gonna take control by killing all of the other mob bosses? Are they stupid? That would just make the rest of the gang angry, and then the second in command would take over and strike back'_ Karasu thought furrowing his eyebrows.

"Remember, once we kill their leaders the gangs will bow down to us!" Mr. Goatee continued. Karasu pinched the bridge of his nose.

'_These people don't understand how this works at all – it's almost comical'_ he thought chuckling lightly – completely unconcerned with the fact that they could hear him. _'I guess it's about time to confront these guys.' _

The gang froze when they heard the laughter. They looked around trying to find the source of the noise.

"So, you don't believe in me, huh?" a voice said. "Well, we'll just have to remedy that" it continued as a form walked out from the shadows next to the group.

"It's Carso!" a thug cried pointing in his direction dramatically. Karasu leveled a glare on him.

"Couldn't you _at least_ get my name right?" the acrobat grumbled.

"What do you want Karsaro" Goatee asked menacingly. Karasu sighed.

"Karasu" he stated turning his glare to the leader.

"What?" the man asked.

"My name is not _Carso_ or _Kabsu_ or _Karsaro_ – it's Karasu" the ebony growled. Goatee rolled his eyes. He obviously didn't know what he was getting himself into.

"I don't need to know your name, we're going to be top of the food chain around here soon" he retorted arrogantly.

"No, you're going to be _dead_. Do you realize how stupid your plan is? Gangs are not going to bow down to you because you took out their leader – they are going to get _even_. Besides, I'm top dog around here" Karasu said, smirking darkly at the end. He had moved over to stand in front of the gang leader while he was speaking. Mr. Goatee smiled.

"Oh please, what are you 10? Like you're really that much of a threat. But if the other gangs are so scared of you then we just have to take you out and they will bow down to our power" he said. The thugs shouted their approval brandishing their weapons above their heads once more.

And once again, people got hit in the back of the head by their comrades. A few that had been hit the time before fell to the ground unconscious while those who hit them looked away feigning innocence.

Karasu rolled his eyes and started turning as if to walk away. The leader smirked thinking that he had scared the acrobat off, but Karasu continued to turn, using the momentum to kick the man's chin and knocked him off his pedestal and into the wall behind. Goatee's head smacked against the brick knocking him unconscious.

The other conscious thugs stood in shock for a moment, staring dumbly at their downed leader. Karasu rolled his shoulders and turned to them.

"Well, now what are you all going to do?" he asked turning to the remaining thugs. The men shook themselves from their stupor – some turned to run away and the remaining charged him weapons at the ready.

Karasu smirked using the box Goatee had been on to jump over three men who proceeded to slam into one another. He turned to the others.

"Three down" he said cheerfully.

Another man came up wielding a long lead pipe. Karasu whipped out his dagger and held it in front of himself, a chilling gleam in his eyes. The man hesitated for a moment before charging in using less vigor than before, the pipe held over his head.

Karasu blocked the pipe with his blade and kicked the man in the stomach while his guard was down. When the thug bent over to hold his injury the bird used his acrobatic prowess to flip over him and slapped the flat of his blade on the side of the man's head knocking him out. The acrobat slid his dagger back into the sheath and turned away from the now unconscious thug.

The remaining members of the gang were starting to look nervous. Four slowly made their way toward Karasu trying to surround him. He let them get close before dropping to the ground as they swung their chosen weapons – getting out of the way in time for them to hit one another.

'_This is sad'_ Karasu thought as the men tried to right themselves.

While they were down, Karasu pulled out a throwing knife and launched it at another of the thugs. The hilt of the knife smacked against its target's temple knocking him out.

Two of the men from before ran at him again, but one tripped knocking his friend over. Their heads smacked into the box that Mr. Goatee had been standing on. Karasu winced as he heard the resulting crack.

He shook himself lightly and turned to the remaining enemies.

His breathing was only a little faster than normal. Thank goodness for all that training in his improvised gym – really helped increase his stamina. Well that and these guys were morons – that helped too.

Seven more thugs dropped their weapons and fled leaving only three of their comrades to fight. Karasu watched them go with a raised eyebrow.

'_Why'd they suddenly decide to run? Most of these guys have taken themselves out'_ he thought.

Karasu looked over the remaining men and smirked darkly beneath his mask. Both of the men who had gotten his name wrong were among them. The thugs shivered feeling the malice in the air.

The third man succumbed to the dark atmosphere and, dropping his weapon – a crowbar, ran away without looking back. Karasu stalked toward the remaining pair – a predatory gleam in his eyes. The men cowered and backed into the brick wall of the alley.

"Well, well. What do we have here? A couple of guys who can't remember names?" Karasu asked in a fake friendly tone. They gulped and he continued. "I can remember names – I'm actually rather good at it. So why don't you both introduce yourselves?"

"I-I'm Frankie" the first man answered. He was afraid of what would happen if he didn't comply with the bird's demand – albeit disguised as a casual question. The other man was defiant until Karasu locked his purple and blue gaze on him.

"Fine, my name's Joey" he muttered defeated.

"Alright Frankie, Joey - if I _ever_ see either of you here again … you won't be getting away with just a nap."

"Wha-?" Joey was cut off when Karasu grabbed his head and slammed it into Frankie's.

The acrobat dusted his hands as the two slid to the ground.

Karasu turned and surveyed the makeshift battlefield. Unconscious thugs were strewn around the alley, some in groups and others alone. He smirked.

"Asterous."

.

(30 minutes later – on a random rooftop in Gotham)

.

Karasu stood staring out into the city trying to ignore the feeling that someone was watching him. He sighed quietly – the nagging feeling just wouldn't go away.

He might as well try to say something – if no one was there then there wouldn't be anyone to witness him talking to and empty roof top.

"I know you're there, so you might as well come out and talk to me like a normal person" Karasu said to the shadows. A woman with wild black hair wearing a short green kimono and cat mask seemed to form from the inky blackness.

"We've heard what you've been up to… defeating Bane, hacking the League" Cheshire stated.

"Yeah?" he replied.

'_Who's we?'_ Karasu wondered.

"The Shadows want you Karasu" Cheshire announced. Well that answers _that_ question.

'_The Shadows? Aren't they a group of assassin's or something?_' he pondered.

"Tell them that's OK, I'm not interested" Karasu replied dismissively.

"It's not really something you can decline _boy_" Cheshire said, practically hissing at the end.

"Well that's too bad, because I just _did_" Karasu retorted.

"You're making enemies of the Shadows" the assassin warned.

"Good, it'll add a bit of excitement to my day" Karasu replied.

"You will regret this" Cheshire spat as she melted into the shadows. Karasu sighed.

"I'm sure I will" he muttered.

.

**I SWEAR the name thing has nothing to do with some of you not knowing how to spell his name. That bit was one of the first scenes that I wrote (a couple of months ago actually) so I totally don't mean it as some underhanded jab at any of you.**

**FINALLY! I wanted to update so much sooner than this! I haven't had any time to work on this lately. I thought I would be able to do it last weekend, but we had guests so I was stuck with them for the times I would be able to work on it.**

**Really I should be doing homework now, but screw that. Homework sucks and this is more important.**

***sigh***

**I'm gonna start it right after I put this up…but I really don't want to *whines***

**On a lighter and less depressing note – jordylilly777 drew another picture of Karasu, this time with the cape, so check it out.**

**h-t-t-p: / / jordylilly777 . deviantart . com #/d5cjmzm**

**(Hiphens and spaces are out and blah blah you know how it works)**

**I'll try to be quicker with the next update**

**BYE!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Young Justice!

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**:

"_You're making enemies of the Shadows" the assassin warned._

"_Good, it'll add a bit of excitement to my day" Karasu replied._

"_You will regret this" Cheshire spat as she melted into the shadows. Karasu sighed._

"_I'm sure I will" he muttered._

.

Chapter 18

"Team, report to the mission room" Red Tornado announced. Wally looked up at him and blinked.

"Got it" he replied cheerily.

The android turned and left the room where the four teens were currently in a pile on top of a white mat covered in colorful circles while the fifth seemed to be having a staring contest with the blender. Something with an odd purple color was dripping from the walls while, mysteriously, the teens were mystery liquid free. All were covered in feathers and bits of cloth littered the floor. The remains of pillows he surmised. He didn't ask what they were doing, he didn't want to know.

.

Ten minutes later the team was composed and gathered in front of Batman – thankfully feather free.

"Do we have a mission?" Aqualad inquired.

"No" the Dark Knight replied. The team stared at him in confusion.

"What? Then why…?" Artemis said trailing off in wait of an answer.

"Was there anything odd that you noticed when you fought the League of Shadows?" Batman asked instead.

"Odd? Why? Do you think they're up to something?" Kid Flash asked furrowing his eyebrows. That mission was ages ago, why was he asking about it now?

"Yes, they have been much more active lately. The League believes that the Shadows are planning something" Batman explained.

"I know little of the Shadows, and as such I do not know if my observations would be beneficial" Aqualad said with an apologetic undertone.

"Doesn't matter – just report anything you believe was strange or maybe out of character for the assassins" Batman replied. The team fell into silence as they thought about the mission.

"Well…they were in a group. Do they normally do that?" M'gann commented after a few moments.

"Not unless they have a large number of targets – even then any more than three is pushing it" Batman replied.

"But they only had one target right? Weren't they only after Dr. Roquette?" Artemis asked starting to understand what Batman was getting at.

"Yes, the question is why they felt the need to send three of their members to complete this task" the Dark Knight answered.

"Is that why you wanted to know if we thought the assassins were doing anything strange?" Aqualad asked.

"Partially" Batman replied.

"What do you think they're planning?" Superboy asked gruffly.

"They seem to be attempting to form an alliance of sorts with other villains, but their purpose for doing so remains unknown" the black clad hero explained.

"Are we supposed to try and figure it out?" Kid Flash asked.

"Not yet, I am personally looking into it. If I find something I might send the team to investigate" Batman replied.

"Understood, we shall await further orders" Aqualad said. Batman nodded.

"Good, you're dismissed" he said.

.

"What do you think is going on?" M'gann asked once they were a fair distance from the mission room.

"I don't know, but whatever it is – it can't be good" Artemis replied.

"I agree, but for now we shall wait for further orders" Kaldur said.

"Yeah…so who wants to watch a movie?" Wally asked with a grin.

"Oh, I'll make popcorn" M'gann exclaimed smiling cheerfully. The debated on movie choices until they reached the kitchen. The teens stopped observing the mess that had been left.

"Oh, right" Wally said after a moment. They had completely forgotten about the little… incident before they had been called to the mission room. Never again would they attempt something like _that_. Boredom makes you do some pretty crazy stuff.

"Perhaps we should clean up first?" Kaldur suggested. The others nodded getting to work on the mess in the living room and kitchen.

.

Back in the mission room Batman was hard at work on the computer trying to find out what the Shadows could be up to.

He was still at it when the computer announced Superman's arrival about twenty minutes later.

"Hey Batman, what are you up to?" the Kryptonian asked as he walked up and stood next to Batman.

"Trying to see what the Shadows are planning" Batman answered plainly.

"That Shadows have been more active than normal?" Superman asked.

"Yes" Batman replied.

"Why haven't you said anything?" Superman asked furrowing his eyebrows.

"I was going to, but for now I'm just looking into it" Batman retorted.

'_Of course'_ Superman thought. Batman really needed to work on being more open with this kind of information. He always keeps information to himself for as long as possible.

They lapsed into silence – Superman watching the monitor as Batman brought up seemingly endless amounts of information on the Shadows and their dealings.

"Did they…you know?" Superman asked hesitantly after a few moments.

"Yes, they got the motorcycle running again" the Dark Knight replied answering the unasked question. The Man of Steel let out an involuntary sigh of relief then mentally scolded himself. He should not be nervous about this teen – he hadn't even shown signs of having any sort of power or meta-human abilities… but he was so _convincing_ about what he would do if the bike was beyond repair.

Superman shuddered a little just thinking about it.

Batman caught the action out of the corner of his eyes and held back a smirk. The boy would do well a crime fighter in Gotham if he could intimidate the Man of Steel. Wait…what?

Why was he thinking about Karasu fighting crime in Gotham? Would he want to take the boy on as a protégé? Because the bird would obviously have to work with him – Gotham was _his_ city after all.

He didn't even know _who_ Karasu was yet. Nothing fit. There was nothing about anyone living in or around Gotham that could be Karasu. He'd gone through names over and over – he'd investigated around the underground in Gotham looking for something, _anything_, but there was nothing. He'd even searched through some Metropolis, Star, and Central City databases since Karasu had told him about traveling through those cities before settling in Gotham. No one knew who he was.

Karasu, for all intents and purposes, simply sprung into existence three or four years ago.

The Dark Knight repressed a sigh as he pushed the thought from his mind. He could worry about that later – now he needed to find out what the Shadows were plotting.

Batman glanced to the side to see Superman finally emerging from his own thoughts. The Kryptonian shook his head lightly and returned his attention to Batman.

"So are you going to keep the rest of the League posted on the Shadows?" he asked.

"If I find anything of importance" Batman replied. Superman rolled his eyes in exasperation. Why couldn't he at least try to be more cooperative?

Superman sighed knowing that Batman would never change. Oh well, it's what made him Batman. He walked over and started powering up the Zeta Beam.

"Just try to keep us posted, alright?" Superman asked. Batman didn't answer. Truthfully the Kryptonian hadn't expected him to.

Superman shook his head and stepped into the Zeta Tubes. The computer announced him and in a flash of light he was gone.

Batman glanced over as the light faded then continued his work.

.

(Several hours later)

Batman sighed. It was late – going on one in the morning; he might as well get back to the Bat Cave and continue his work there. He stood up from the chair that he had dragged into the room rolling his shoulder and neck.

As he left he passed the living area and saw the teens sleeping in front of the forgotten TV which was now looping the menu footage of a DVD. He turned the TV off and swept silently from the room.

Batman took the Batmobile back to Gotham and booted up the computer in the Batcave.

Alfred walked down shortly after and handed him a cup of coffee. Batman pulled his cowl back and thanked him before redirecting his attention to the screen in front of him. The elderly butler watched for a few moments in silence.

"Have you figured out anything of what the League of Shadows is planning?" Alfred asked.

"No, there's nothing Alfred. Every lead I find leads to a dead end" Bruce replied.

"What about Karasu sir?" Alfred inquired. Bruce's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"What?" he asked. What about Karasu? What would he have to do with this?

"Did you not say that Karasu had a large information network?" Alfred explained.

"Yes – or at least he seems to" Bruce answered thinking of some of the things Karasu seemed to know that he shouldn't – like the team's mission to Santa Prisca and the Venom-Blockbuster mixture that originated there. Alfred raised an eyebrow but didn't otherwise react to Bruce's unsure answer.

"Could you not ask him?" the butler suggested calmly.

"Ask Karasu?" Bruce asked uncertainly.

"Indeed" Alfred replied.

"…"

"…"

"I guess so" the billionaire finally said. He moved to the computer to search for the frequency Karasu had used the last time he contacted him. He may have blown up the computer, but unlike the first time when he hacked the Bat Cave, the frequency the acrobat used did not disappear.

Karasu probably left the frequency up knowing that Batman would find it and use it if needed. The boy thought ahead – Bruce respected that. Karasu could really do some good if he wanted to. He was probably the only person the Bat would consider taking on as a partner…

Why was he thinking about this again? Back on topic – the frequency.

Actually Bruce had been using it to track Karasu for some time. It didn't provide any useful information other than the fact that the hacker seemed to have some sort of vehicle – which he now knew was a motorcycle that the teen was very protective of. Usually the frequency could be traced to one of the more violent areas of Gotham – or it had been one of the more violent. Criminal activity had calmed down rather dramatically there in the past year or so. Bruce guessed that was his 'territory' since the building Joker was in the first time Karasu contacted him was in that general area.

The computer beeped indicating that the frequency had been found. It was emanating from the western most portion of the area that Bruce believed was Karasu's territory and was not moving. Of course this simply meant that Karasu was not moving around a lot at the moment.

.

(With Karasu – at that very moment)

.

'_Well, crap'_ Karasu thought dully as he stared at the group of assassins in front of him. He liked to think himself a decent fighter, for not being professionally trained. He picked up bits and pieces of fighting styles here and there, but that might not be enough to help him now.

"I warned you boy, no one defies the shadows."

.

**Yeah – it's been what? Almost two weeks. That's not sooner than the last update. I curse myself. I got stuck at like 1200 words (which is totally not meeting the quota) on this for awhile then I had like no time to work on it and when I did my brain was fried and I couldn't get anything out. **

**And I apologize profusely for that.**

**Also, since it has taken so long (I hate being swamped with school and stuff) I didn't really edit it too much. So it's probably crappy and everything, but it's something. I really hope to get the next one up sooner than this one.**

**All I know about the League of Shadows is what they have on the show, which is very little – therefore I made a lot of stuff up (probably inaccurately)**

**I do that, when something somewhat bad or unexpected happens I say "Well, crap" in a neutral/monotone voice. Either that or I say "fantastic" sarcastically.**

**BYE!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer**: Still don't own Young Justice

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

'Well, crap'_ Karasu thought dully as he stared at the group of assassins in front of him. He liked to think himself a decent fighter, for not being professionally trained. He picked up bits and pieces of fighting styles here and there, but that might not be enough to help him now._

"_I warned you boy, no one defies the shadows" _

.

Chapter 19

Four of them.

Four!

In front of him were _four_ assassins: the cat-masked woman from before, a man with some metal helmet type thing covering his eyes, a large man with a hook hand, and a man in a purple and black body suit including a face mask with a spider emblem on it.

Was one or two not enough?

'_Seriously? Is that really necessary?'_ Karasu wondered.

"We'll give you one more chance; join the Shadows or die" Cheshire warned.

"I told you I'm not interested. Besides, what do you guys have against me? It's not like I could really do anything to you" Karasu retorted.

"It doesn't matter" Cheshire scoffed.

"What do you mean it doesn't matter? It matters to me" Karasu rebuked.

"The Shadows want you gone – that's all you need to know" the assassin explained.

"Not all I _want_ to know" Karasu grumbled under his breath. The assassins went to move forward when a beep echoed across the rooftop.

"What now?" Karasu wondered.

.

(The Batcave: moments earlier)

Bruce pulled up the frequency and typed out a simple message.

.

"**Karasu"**

.

He waited for a few moments and a response arrived.

.

"**Bats? What's up? Now's not really a good time"**

.

"That's odd" Bruce commented.

"How so?" Alfred asked.

"Usually he's quick to jump on a conversation" the billionaire explained.

"Perhaps he is busy" Alfred ventured.

"True, but it's still strange" Bruce replied typing out another message.

.

"**Why?"**

.

The answer that arrived almost made Bruce want to sigh.

.

"**Just some things I'm dealing with – nothing of your concern at the moment"**

.

"Why does he have to be so secretive?" Bruce asked.

"Reminds me of someone I know" Alfred quipped.

"Alfred" Bruce said.

"Yes?" Alfred replied with a raised eyebrow. Bruce resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Nothing" he said.

.

"**I see, just one thing then – what do you know of the League of Shadows?"**

.

"I really doubt that he knows anything about them. They are a secretive group" Bruce said after sending the message.

"You never know Master Bruce" Alfred said.

.

"**That they want me dead"**

.

"Oh my" Alfred intoned after reading the message.

"Why would the Shadows want him dead?" Bruce asked furrowing his eyebrows as he typed.

.

"**What?"**

.

"Has he done anything that warrants them wanting to kill him?" Alfred asked. Bruce shook his head.

"Nothing that I know of, but I don't know what he does most of the time. Other than having card parties with Joker" he replied.

"He has card parties with the Joker?" Alfred asked increduously. Bruce nodded absently as Karasu's response appeared on the monitor.

.

"**I wouldn't join them so they're throwing a tantrum and trying to kill me"**

.

Bruce narrowed his eyes slightly as he stood from the computer. He pulled his cowl back over his face and started toward the Batmobile.

"Where are you going Master Bruce?" Alfred asked.

"To find him" Batman replied.

.

(Back with Karasu, where it left off)

"Can I have a sec?" Karasu asked looking at the message that had made his computer beep.

.

"**Karasu"**

.

'_What does Bats want?'_ the bird wondered.

"What?" Cheshire asked. Did he seriously ask them to _wait_?

"Someone's trying to communicate with me – just give me a moment to reply" Karasu explained.

"No" Cheshire said. Did he think they were stupid? He was probably trying to call for help.

"I really wasn't waiting for your permission" Karasu said pressing a button and sending his response.

.

"**Bats? What's up? Now's not really a good time"**

.

"Insolent brat" Cheshire growled.

"I try" Karasu replied with a shrug.

"Get him" Cheshire said spurring the other assassins into action once more.

Black Spider launched a reddish colored substance at him which he managed to dodge. Karasu used his momentum to slip under Hook's legs as the large man charged at him.

He ducked behind a wall and then under an old water tower staying concealed in the shadows. One of the assassin's checked behind the low wall and glanced around. He started to walk away and look elsewhere when Karasu's computer beeped again and he heard the assassin stop.

'_Crap, today just isn't my day'_ the bird thought.

.

"**Why?"**

.

'_Why? Really? He ousted me to ask _why_ I was busy?_' Karasu thought incredulously. A hand reached under the water tower in an attempt to grab the acrobat who moved out of reach.

Karasu typed out his message as quickly as he could while the hook-handed man continued to reach for him.

.

"**Just some things I'm dealing with – nothing of your concern at the moment"**

.

Finally Hook seemed to have enough and lifted himself up so he could try again at a different angle. He would try with his hook, but the bulky machine would never fit into the space under the tower.

When he looked back under the tower Karasu was gone.

"What the…?" the large man wondered aloud.

"Where is he?" Cheshire demanded having noticed that the other assassin had found the boy.

"He was under this" Hook replied.

"And where is he now?" Cheshire asked.

"Don't know – I looked away for a couple seconds and he just vanished" Hook replied.

"He can't vanish – find him" Cheshire ordered as she walked over to look around in the area.

Karasu watched this exchange from where he was balanced at the top of the water tower attempting to stay hidden in the shadows. As luck would have it, his computer beeped again and the assassins' heads immediately snapped to his position.

"Note to self – turn off the beeps" Karasu mumbled. He quickly glanced over the message.

.

"**I see, just one thing then – what do you know of the League of Shadows?"**

.

Karasu let out an amused snort. What did he know about them? The hacker typed out his response and pressed send.

.

"**That they want me dead"**

.

Suddenly a reddish colored energy beam tore through the tower spilling water everywhere. Karasu's eyes widened in shock as he leapt of the collapsing container.

'_What was that?'_ he wondered frantically. He caught sight of a glow off to his left and turned to see the helmeted man.

'_That thing shoots lasers?!' _Karasu thought trying to keep his outer appearance as calm as possible.

This was not good. At all.

The assassins started to advance on him again. Karasu frantically tried to come up with a plan. He was outnumbered – that was for certain.

Maybe he could break the laser helmet?

He heard a boom and ducked on instinct. Karasu looked up and saw a chain flying over his head. Following it to the end he saw the hook attached by chain to the large man.

'_And the hook shoots?'_ he thought.

His computer beeped again and he had an urge to smash it on the rooftop. Resisting this he read the message.

.

"**What?"**

.

'_Aw, he cares'_ Karasu thought.

"Would you stop?" Cheshire asked brusquely. Karasu raised an eye brow.

"Stop what?" he inquired.

"Trying to call for help, whoever it is will never make it in time" Cheshire said.

"Who says I'm calling for help? I'm trying to have a conversation which you are all rudely interrupting" Karasu replied.

"If anyone's _interrupting_ a conversation, it's whoever you're talking to" Cheshire retorted.

"No, that doesn't count since I didn't _want_ to be talking to _you_" Karasu rebuked sending his next message.

.

"**I wouldn't join them so they're throwing a tantrum and trying to kill me"**

.

"Well that's too bad for you" Cheshire said. Professor Ojo stepped forward, his helmet charging to fire another laser.

"Maybe I can break it…" Karasu muttered pulling out a throwing knife and launching it at the center of the helmet.

It bounced off doing almost no damage.

"Or not" Karasu mused dodging out of the way of the energy beam. Black Spider suddenly jumped up behind him firing his sticky red webbing. Karasu jumped twisting through the air and just barely managing to dodge the substance.

Cheshire pulled out her sai and lunged at the acrobat. He back flipped out of the way nearly ramming into Black Spider.

Black Spider shot his webbing again while Hook shot his own weapon from the other side of Karasu. The bird ducked and the sticky red substance managed to cover the chain of the hook.

When Hook tried to wind up the chain it jammed his machine. The large assassin growled trying to get his weapon functioning again.

The remaining three assassins formed a circle around Karasu, trapping him. As they were about to strike, Cheshire froze.

"What?" Cheshire asked, holding a hand up to her ear. "… We can- …But-…" the assassin continued. "Fine" she growled removing her hand.

"We've been told to return, immediately. Apparently Batman is on his way here and we are _not_ to engage him"

"We could finish him off quickly enough" Hook argued jabbing his thumb in Karasu's direction. The bird was watching them closely.

"No, we were ordered to leave him be" Cheshire said, her disagreement to the order obvious. Karasu breathed a mental sigh of relief.

"Let's go" Cheshire ordered. The assassins were gone in moments.

.

(With Batman)

Batman had been tracking the frequency with the Batmobile. So far Karasu hadn't moved since sending his last message.

The Dark Knight wasn't sure if this was good or bad.

When Batman arrived he found Karasu laying spread eagle on the roof, staring up at the sky. He didn't seem to be injured.

"What are you doing?" Batman asked. Karasu's eyes slid over to glance at the Dark Knight before returning to their original position.

"Stargazing" the acrobat replied. Batman glanced up at the sky. Nothing but the inky blackness that was Gotham's smog filled night sky. He looked back to Karasu.

"You can't see the stars from here" Batman stated.

"Yeah" Karasu agreed.

"You were busy doing this?" Batman asked talking about his apparent 'stargazing.' Karasu chuckled.

"No" he replied.

"Then what were you doing?" Batman asked.

"Trying not to be killed by a group of assassins" Karasu said as he sat up.

"Who?" Batman asked.

"The Shadows – one of them had a cat mask, one with a big hook cannon, another in a purple body suit with a spider on the mask, and the last had a helmet that shot lasers" the acrobat replied.

"Cheshire, Hook, Black Spider, and Professor Ojo" Batman informed. "Do you know what they wanted?" he asked.

"Other than to kill me?" Karasu asked with a raised brow.

"Yes, you said they asked you to join them. What for?" Batman inquired. Karasu shrugged.

"Didn't say - Cheshire came and asked if I would join them and I said no. Then the four of them showed up tonight saying they were going to kill me" he explained.

"That's all you know?" Batman asked.

"Yep" Karasu confirmed. "Why? Are they up to something big?" he asked.

"I believe so" Batman replied. Karasu nodded thoughtfully.

"I'll see if I can find anything" hestated. At Batman's questioning look he elaborated. "They want me dead; it's in my best interest to side with you guys. Besides, I don't like them" he finished with a dismissive shrug.

"Alright, contact me if you find anything" Batman said.

"Mmm-kay" Karasu chirped as he flopped back down and started staring at the sky again.

.

**Yeah, it took forever! I couldn't decide how I wanted to do this chapter (ended up as two different points of view during one conversation then converging at the end) and every time I go to type this I suddenly have to go do something else or go somewhere. **

**EVERY FREAKING TIME!**

**The water tower thing – figured I should kind of explain that. It's not like the big ones in towns (and I mean the huge ones that are like three stories tall), more like the small ones on rooftops in cities like New York. Looks like a big cylinder with a cone top. Well, some sit on a platform that is raised off the roof – that's what Karasu hid under. And the wall? Heck if I know - it was just there for the story.**

**I also used the 'or not' thing 'cause I always found it funny in the show. You know how one of them would say something, then instantly be proven wrong and they would say "...or not" It happened several times with Robin in Homefront, but the first time was Green Arrow on the first episode. It was just one of those little things that was reccuring in the series - like Superboy saying that he hates monkeys.**

**Sorry it took so long to get this out.**

**BYE!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer**: I still don't own Young Justice!

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

"_I'll see if I can find anything" Karasu stated. At Batman's questioning look he elaborated. "They want me dead; it's in my best interest to side with you guys. Besides, I don't like them" he finished with a dismissive shrug._

"_Alright, contact me if you find anything" Batman said._

"_Mmm-kay" Karasu chirped as he flopped back down and started staring at the sky again._

.

Chapter 20

Sirens echoed off the walls of Arkham Asylum as blinking red lights illuminated the halls. Guards rushed through the building checking cells and making sure none of the more dangerous inmates had escaped while others tried to figure out what had set off the alarm.

"Someone's in Joker's cell!" a random guard called out running up to a group of his fellow guards.

"What? Someone's _in_ the cell?" another asked incredulously.

"Yeah, he's in the cell and the door is closed!" the guard replied.

"How'd he get in there?" the other asked.

"I have no idea" the first guard answered honestly.

"What's going on here?" Commissioner Gordon asked walking up to the group of guards. He had been alerted when the alarm went off and immediately rushed to Arkham.

"Someone has broken into Joker's cell" the first guard replied.

"Into? As in they're in the cell?" Commissioner Gordon asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Yes!" the man exclaimed slightly exasperated at having to repeat himself.

"What are they doing in there?" Gordon asked.

"I don't know, I saw someone in the cell with Joker and went to find backup" the guard replied.

"Well you've got your backup, let's go" the commissioner ordered.

.

(10 minutes earlier)

The guard came to an abrupt stop, keys jingling from their position on his belt. He glanced around nervously. He couldn't shake the feeling of being watched – and not by the inmates. He thought he saw movement to his side and snapped his head to the spot, but nothing was there.

The man shook his head writing it off as paranoia – he really needed a vacation or something. He continued on his way and rounded the next corner, completely ignorant of what he had left behind.

Karasu stood in the hall that the guard had just been in. He tossed a ring of keys into the air and caught them again.

"I thought that would be harder" the bird mused to himself as he turned down the hall that held the criminally insane.

He stopped in front of a cell, raising an amused eyebrow at its occupant. He was completely wrapped in the bed sheet, not one part of his body showing. The cocoon was wiggling around – half on the bed and half off.

"What are you doing?" the acrobat asked. After a short bout of wiggling Joker's head popped out from blanket.

"Ah Karasu! What a pleasant surprise" the clown exclaimed. He rolled himself completely off the bed then across the floor unwinding the blanket. Once he was untangled he jumped up and walked over.

"Hey Joker" Karasu greeted.

"Ah, talking through the bars is so impersonal!" Joker exclaimed. "Come in, come in – I can show you around my lovely cell" the clown added. Karasu shrugged and flipped through the keys looking for the one to Joker's cell.

Karasu turned the key in the lock hearing the tell-tale click of the lock coming undone. He paused studying a number pad next to the door.

"Hey Joker, will an alarm go off if I open this without putting in the code?" he asked.

"Why yes it will. A loud one with flashing lights and everything!" Joker replied his grin growing across his face.

"Huh" Karasu replied noncommittally as he pushed the door open.

An earsplitting alarm blared to life drowning out Joker's laughter. The volume of the siren lowered after its initial scream to a less deafening level as Karasu walked into the cell, closing the door behind him.

"So as you can see, this is the main room" Joker said starting his tour. "Aaaaand, that's it" the clown finished bluntly before bursting into crazed laughter.

"Nice" Karasu replied. Joker nodded and flopped down on his cot.

"So, what'cha need?" he asked.

"What? I can't just come visit my favorite psycho?" Karasu inquired.

"Aw, I feel so warm and fuzzy - but even I wouldn't break into Arkham just to talk" Joker replied.

"You wouldn't?" Karasu asked with a raised eybrow.

"Ok, maybe I would, but you don't seem the type" Joker amended with a face-splitting grin.

"True" Karasu agreed.

"Sooo…" Joker prompted.

"Do you know anything about the League of Shadows?" the ebony asked.

"The League of Shadows?" Joker repeated.

"Yeah, have you heard anything about them lately?" Karasu asked.

"Hmm, what brought that on?" Joker asked.

"They tried to kill me when I wouldn't join them" the bird explained offhandedly.

"Well, we can't have that" Joker said tapping his chin in thought.

"Not too fond of the idea myself" Karasu agreed. "So, have you heard anything?" he asked.

"Last I heard of the Shadows was that they were avoiding Gotham" Joker replied.

"Any idea why?" Karasu asked.

"Afraid of the big, bad Bat" Joker answered bursting into a fit of laughter. "Or maybe they don't think they can trust us Gotham baddies" he added after calming down slightly.

"They came after me" Karasu pointed out.

"But you're not the right _kind_ of crazy" Joker replied.

"Not so sure that's a good thing in this case" Karasu commented.

"True, true. Then just stick to Batsy – he'll figure it out with all his detective-y ways"

"That's what I was planning to do" Karasu replied.

Suddenly they heard the sound of rapid footsteps over the ever present ring of the alarm.

"Ooooh more visitors. Aren't I popular today" Joker commented.

"Yep, and that's my cue to leave – see you when you're out" Karasu said. Joker grinned and waved as Karasu opened the door, pulled the keys from the lock, and dropped them on the ground in front of the cell. The hacker disappeared around the corner as Commissioner Gordon and a group of guards came into view.

Gordon and the guards came to a stop outside of Joker's cell. One guard stepped forward and hurriedly closed the cell door which Karasu had left open.

"Ah Commissioner, how nice of you to visit!" Joker exclaimed standing up from the bed. "I would have prepared some refreshments if I knew you were coming" the clown added.

"Save it Joker, tell me – how did your door get open" Gordon asked. Joker stared at him with a bemused expression.

"Don't you know? Well, when a door is locked you take a key, put it into the keyhole and turn. This of course unlocks the door, and then all you have to do is push it open!" Joker explained. Commissioner Gordon sighed.

"You know what I mean" he said.

"Do I? You asked me how-" Joker started.

"Who?" I'm asking who opened the door" the commissioner interrupted.

"Oh well that's a totally different matter. It was my guest, of course" Joker replied his grin spreading further across his face.

"Your guest?" Gordon repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Why yes, he came to see me –" Joker paused, something down the hall catching his attention. The commissioner turned and saw wisps of smoke drifting from somewhere around the corner.

"Oh, that's him now" the clown finished breaking into hysterical laughter. Gordon shot him a confused look then turned to the guards.

"Someone stay here and watch Joker. Everyone else, we're going to investigate" he ordered. Two guards took up position by Joker's cell as Gordon led the others down the hall.

No one was in sight when they arrived though tendrils of smoke wafted lazily from one of the cells. They could hear the occupant coughing.

"Somebody find something to get rid of the smoke" Gordon said. One guard took off down the hall.

"Someone threw a smoke bomb into one of the cells?" a guard said in a questioning tone.

"Looks like it. But whoever Joker's 'friend' is, they're not here anymore" Gordon observed.

"Joker's friend?" a gruff voice asked. Commissioner Gordon's eyes widened and a couple of the guards gasped.

"You have to stop doing that" Gordon exclaimed turning to Batman. The Dark Knight stared at him impassively for a moment.

"Joker's friend?" he repeated.

"Yeah, apparently this was his doing" Gordon said gesturing to the smoke that was slowly dissipating from the cell.

"I see" Batman intoned.

The guard returned with a fan and started blowing the remaining smoke away. When it was gone they found themselves looking at none other than Bane. The villain sent them a glare before turning away and quietly grumbling to himself.

"What is Bane doing in Arkham?" Batman inquired. Gordon shrugged.

"Someone decided he was crazy or needed the extra security, I guess" he replied.

"And the person who did this, he was talking to Joker?" Batman asked. He had a pretty good idea of who it was.

"Yeah, though whoever it was didn't free him which is odd" the commissioner replied. "I don't think that he's here anymore" he added.

"We could check the security cams, sir" a guard suggested.

"That's probably a good idea, I doubt Joker would tell us who it was anyway" Jim replied leading the way back to the guard post.

The footage didn't have any audio, but they did see the person unlock and enter Joker's cell. The two seemed to talk for awhile then the intruder left the cell. Moments later Commissioner Gordon and the guards arrived in the frame.

They switched to another view and found the intruder standing in front of Bane's cell. They seemed to simply glare at each other for a minute then the intruder tossed something into the cell. It exploded into a cloud of smoke.

When it cleared enough to see the hall, he was gone. A few seconds later they arrived in frame again.

"That raises more questions than it answers" Gordon commented. "Have you ever seen this guy before?" the commissioner asked glancing back at Batman.

"Yes" Batman replied.

"Really? Who is it?" Jim inquired looking at the screen which was paused on an images of the person.

"No one of consequence" Batman replied.

"How can it be no one of consequence, this guy was talking with Joker – and he's gone" Gordon said turning around and finding Batman had vanished. He sighed.

"I wish he wouldn't do that" the commissioner muttered.

.

(Later)

Batman was back at the mountain working when the team walked into the room.

They decided not to bother the Dark Knight and moved further away and began warming up for their training.

"Did he know anything?" Batman asked suddenly.

"What?" Wally asked furrowing his eyebrows.

"Aww, you gave me away. I was gonna surprise them" a voice complained from beside the teens. All of them except Kaldur and Conner jumped.

"Oh, never mind – still got most of 'em" Karasu amended.

"Would you stop that?" Wally exclaimed. Karasu seemed to think for a moment.

"Not anytime soon" he replied cheekily.

"Did Joker know anything?" Batman asked again.

"No, apparently they've been more or less avoiding Gotham all together" the ebony answered with a shrug.

"I see" Batman replied.

"If you asked me, I'd say they were trying to stay away from you" Karasu stated .

"Why would they be doing that – not that Batman's not intimidating, but they seem to be in all of the other hero's cities" Wally commented.

"I don't know, he's the detective" Karasu replied jabbing his thumb in Batman's direction.

"Perhaps that is why" Kaldur said thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" M'gann asked.

"They do not want to risk Batman figuring out their plans" Kaldur explained.

"But that would mean…" Artemis said trailing off.

"They're planning something against the League itself" Batman concluded.

.

**Before I forget (again) I'm going to address the "Batman hires a girl to figure out who Karasu is because he doesn't have the time to do it and then she and Karasu fall in love" thing. Not that I hate the idea or anything, and I'm definitely not mad at anyone for suggesting it, but at this point in the story it's not really something that I think will fit. Add that to the fact that I have no CLUE how to write romance. It's not something I commonly read, (I'm more into funny stories or action-y ones) so it's not really something I'm super familiar with. As such, I don't think I would be able to do it well which would likely hurt the story which I don't want to do. I'm sorry if anyone wanted to see that in the story, but I don't think it's going to happen :(**

**We're getting into it now – what could the Shadows be up to? (The heck if I know – seriously, I'm bad at figuring out what the bad guys are up to [see Unforgettable Trip…two words – plant zombies] we'll see what happens I guess)**

**Oh yeah – Guest That Reads, I fixed it. I don't know why I put that… I could'a sworn I put Homefront *shrugs* things happen.**

**Sorry about the super long wait on this one D:**

**BYE!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Young Justice

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

"_But that would mean…" Artemis said trailing off. _

"_They're planning something against the League itself" Batman concluded._

.

Chapter 21

"If they're after the League then why exactly do I need to be dead?" Karasu asked after the brief silence that followed Batman's statement. The team gave him surprised looks.

"The Shadows want to kill you?" Wally asked.

"Yeah, that's the main reason why I'm here" Karasu replied.

"Perhaps they are afraid that you will be able to oppose them" Kaldur suggested. Karasu scoffed.

"Me? Yeah right – what could I do to a group of highly trained _assassins_?" he asked.

"You've already helped us figure out what they could be up to" Artemis supplied.

"I'm sure Batman was already suspicious" the bird retorted.

"True, but there were no leads, now we have something to go off of" Kaldur said.

"Still don't see why _me_ being dead would help _them_" Karasu grumbled.

"How did you get involved with them anyway?" Wally asked. Karasu sighed.

"Cheshire showed up saying the shadows had heard about me and wanted to recruit me or something and I said no. Then she said I'd regret going against the Shadows and left. A couple days later her and three others showed up to make good on her threat, but were called back before they could. That's all I know" he explained.

"So all you've done is refuse to work with them?" Wally said.

"Pretty much" Karasu replied. "Still don't see why they think I'm a threat" he added.

"You hacked the League and they believe you could hack them as well" Batman stated.

"Yeah, I _hacked_ the League – past tense. Then you went and upped the security so I can't get in anymore" Karasu complained.

"How come you could get in before?" Wally asked. Batman spoke up.

"Security was lax. The League hadn't had any serious threats in that area, until Karasu. Though I use the term _threat_ loosely as he never did anything that compromised us" he said.

"Maybe I shouldn't have let you know I could" Karasu said.

"Maybe" Batman agreed.

"So…he's not a great hacker?" M'gann asked. She had thought he was a highly skilled hacker, but with the way they were talking, she wasn't sure if her thought had been correct.

"No. He he an excellent hacker, not the best, perhaps, but he has potential" Batman replied.

"But potential without guidance often proves dangerous" Karasu commented with an amused look in his eyes. The slightest of smirks flashed across Batman's face.

"True" he said.

"I still don't understand why they want to kill him" Wally said.

"They don't want any loose ends – whether they are sure he would be one or not" the Dark Knight explained.

"Yeah well I wouldn't be, but then they went decide to try and kill me. So whatever happens from this point is their own fault" Karasu said.

"So you're with us all the way? None of that side switching stuff?" Wally asked.

"Yep, no side switching" the bird replied.

"So what can you do?" Artemis asked. Karasu furrowed his eyebrows.

"What?" he asked.

"Fighting style, any particular talents, things like that. If we want to work together effectively, then we'll have to know some of you skills" Artemis explained.

"That's true, all we really know is that he's acrobatic and a good hacker" M'gann commented.

"That's because we've never actually fought each other" Karasu said.

"And you usually don't really fight around us" Wally added.

"That too" Karasu replied.

"True, he didn't really do anything but throw a knife at Penguin and briefly engage Catwoman" Artemis said thoughtfully.

"What can I say? I'm a lover, not a fighter" Karasu replied with a shrug.

"Yeah right" Wally scoffed.

"Well I'm not going to embarrass myself by going up against a more skilled opponent when I don't have to" Karasu amended.

"So you can't fight?" Wally asked.

"No, I can fight – I'm just not trained" Karasu replied.

"What do you mean? I thought you defeated Bane" Artemis said.

"Yeah, through incredible luck and the old home field advantage" the bird replied.

"What do you mean – home field advantage?" M'gann asked.

"My place is rigged, you know traps, secret passages, hidden doors – the like" Karasu answered.

"Then how'd you end up taking over part of Gotham?" Artemis asked.

"Please, I'm untrained, not incompetent. I can take on a common thug. And I only took over because they refused to work together" Karasu explained.

"If you're untrained then how did you learn to fight? What about the knife throwing thing?" the archer continued.

"I picked up bits of street fighting here and there, then added acrobatics and made my own fighting style. As for the knife throwing? I'll just say that it's something from my past and leave it at that" Karasu replied.

"How are you going to fight the Shadows then?" Wally asked.

"Couldn't he get training from the League?" M'gann inquired.

"Probably not, I doubt the League would ever agree to train someone who is not a known hero" Artemis said.

"Don't say that, I'm sure the League would-" M'gann started.

"No, the League cannot officially train someone that is not part of it" Batman said.

"Officially?" Karasu repeated with a raised eyebrow. The other teens looked up.

"Are you saying there's some way to train him…without actually training him?" Wally asked confused.

"Training often entails the presence of a trainer" Batman replied. The team stared at him with puzzled expressions. What was that supposed to mean? Karasu grinned under his mask.

"And if the trainer will not teach, the trainees must learn amongst themselves" he continued. Batman nodded.

"What are you two talking about?" Wally asked.

"A loophole to our little problem" Karasu replied.

"What's that supposed to mean? You know a way to get training, but not from the League?" the speedster asked.

"Hard to say" the bird replied mischievously. Artemis sighed.

"Ok, they obviously aren't going to tell us, so we'll have to figure it out" she said.

"I'm not good at figuring this type of thing out" Wally said. The archer snorted in amusement.

"Obviously" she remarked.

"Hey!" Wally exclaimed defensibly.

"Then let us begin with the 'trainer.' Who do you believe it refers to?" Kaldur said quickly trying to stop the fight before it could really get started. The teens thought for a moment.

"Well, they said 'if the trainer will not teach' so wouldn't it be the League?" M'gann asked.

"Black Canary" Conner stated.

"Yeah, Black Canary is from the League and she trains us" Artemis agreed.

"Then we are the trainees" Kaldur concluded. They turned to Batman.

"Yes" he confirmed.

"So you're saying that he can't be trained by the League, but he _can_ learn from us?" Wally asked.

"Yes" Batman repeated.

"But how does that make sense? Sure we aren't _officially_ part of the League, but we are heroes so why should we be allowed to teach him?" Wally asked furrowing his eyebrows.

"Are you second guessing Batman?" Karasu asked. Wally's eyes widened in alarm.

"No!" he exclaimed then cleared his throat. "No, not at all" the speedster said more calmly.

"So you want us to teach him? We're just learning ourselves, how can we teach someone else?" Artemis asked.

"He doesn't need to be taught. What he needs is experience" Batman explained.

"You want us to… spar with him?" Kaldur concluded uncertainly.

"In a way" Batman replied.

"We're not sparring?" Wally asked.

"Can you explain what you are thinking?" Kaldur asked.

"He will come here every day and during the time that he is present he can initiate a spar with one or more of you or any of you can with him" Batman said.

"So like regular sparring, but you don't know exactly when it will be happening" Wally said.

"And there will be different environments so no one will have a constant advantage" Artemis added.

"Or, if chosen carefully, the attacker can put the odds in his or her favor" Kaldur concluded.

"Correct" Batman replied.

"So it's a little more like 'real life,' but still safe – or as safe as a spar can be" Wally said. Batman nodded.

"In a week I will come and see if any of you have improved" he said before leaving the room.

"Sounds like fun" Karasu commented.

"You would say that, especially since you seem to love popping out of nowhere" Wally complained. He turned to find that Karasu had vanished.

"Aaaand you're already gone" the speedster added.

"How'd he do that?" M'gann asked.

"It's best not to think about it" Artemis said.

"If I didn't know better, I'd swear he was a bat" Wally sighed mentally preparing himself for the week.

.

And so the week passed full of random spars, near heart attacks, and a weird kind of bonding brought forth by terror and shared experience.

It was a rather eventful week.

The first day Karasu was very 'hit and run' with the spars. He would appear, fight for awhile, and then disappear again if the odds were too far against him.

On the second day Wally had decided to take the initiative and sought Karasu out. This resulted the speedster running through the mountain for a couple of hours before actually finding the bird. Once he did he ended up caught in a net, giving Karasu his first win.

Apparently the bird was feeling merciful because he actually cut the speedster down before disappearing again.

Day three was by far the most eventful.

Kaldur ended up in the first spar of the day and he defeated Karasu, but it was much more difficult than he thought it would be.

Next was Artemis. She was shooting targets in the training room and as soon as she fired the last arrow in her quiver, he dropped down from the ceiling. They spared for awhile then decided on a draw.

Karasu managed to get a drop on M'gann, but she ended up suspending him in the air and after few moments he forfeited.

Conner got extremely frustrated during one of his spars with the bird since he couldn't land a hit and the team was afraid that the clone would seriously hurt Karasu. When Conner finally pinned the acrobat down the others prepared to jump in to save him. Their fears were unfounded, they discovered, as Conner simply stood and helped Karasu up after the smaller ebony admitted defeat.

The team had taken to sticking together after the first four days and they were rarely the ones to initiate a spar. Mostly because they could almost never find Karasu – even with a Martian and Kryptonian on their side.

He'd also started messing with their heads. A favorite tactic was flipping the lights of a room on and off causing the occupant of the room to tense and prepare for an attack that, more often than not, would never come.

Karasu managed to at least startle all of them over the course of the week – Wally more often than anyone else.

.

The team was gathered in the training room waiting for Batman's arrival at the end of the week.

"Is Karasu here yet?" Wally asked.

"The zeta beam announced him a few hours ago" M'gann replied. When he came by zeta beam, the computerized voice would simply say 'recognized' and that's how they knew it was him. Apparently Batman left that as a way for Karasu to get to the mountain even after he updated the security.

Finally the computer announced Batman's arrival.

The Dark Knight swept into the room and passed the gathered teens coming to a stop in front of them. Batman suddenly took a step to the left. Before any of the gathered teens could question the movement, a form dropped from the ceiling landing in the space Batman had previously occupied.

"Karasu" Batman greeted.

"Bats" Karasu returned cheerfully, as if he hadn't just tried to sneak attack him. Batman turned to Kaldur.

"Has he improved?" he asked.

"Yes, I believe so. He is not an opponent to take lightly." the Atlantian replied. Batman nodded.

"So have you found anything else about what the Shadows are planning?" Wally asked.

"They have finished recruiting villains. They have some from almost every city with a hero protecting it" Batman said.

"What about Gotham?" Artemis asked.

"They broke Bane out of Arkham, but have not contacted any villain otherwise" Batman replied.

"Bane" Karasu growled.

"You said that they finished recruiting villains. Does that mean whatever they are planning is going to happen soon?" Kaldur asked. Batman nodded grimly.

.

**Sorry about taking forever again. I'm going to do my best to get the next one out within a week. Hopefully.**

**Um, there's probably something I was supposed to answer or explain here, but my brain's not working at the moment, so sorry if you asked a question and I didn't answer.**

**Soooo, yeah**

**BYE!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer**: If I said I owned Young Justice, I would be lying. So I won't

.

**A/N: I'm gonna answer some stuff here, so skip on if you don't care**

**Minichurros123: who is the girl? Is it Zatanna, Barbara, or Artemis? Just curious**

-The girl that was suggested was an OC named Sparrow, I think

**Many people: is Batman ever going to figure out who Karasu is?**

-Yes he will. It's just that he wouldn't think of Dick Grayson since he's been dead for awhile. He may get suspicious, but until he gets some solid proof, he wouldn't guess it – he's thorough after all.

**Ashley: For one it ok you didn't pick my idea it was a really stupid one so I'm not mad**  
**Second come on rob should have beaten more people**  
**Third how do u pronounce kulal or robin name you gave him and**  
**4 is bat every going to train him to be able to beat them all and take him under the wing**  
**5 this another idea u don't have to use it it about that bat is thinking about everything rob has said and then remember rob saying some one that doesn't exist and then it clicks if you're not going to use it please tell me as soon as u can**  
**Last thing love this chap and how everyone was confuse on everything I could see them all doing a double take in their head brilliant**  
**Love to my fav fanfiction Ashley out**

-(1) I'm glad, (2) it went on for a week and I didn't describe every fight, so how many he actual beat is up to you, (3) how to pronounce Karasu, umm I'm not sure if _I_ pronounce it correctly, but it's kind of like this – Kah-rah-sue – if that helps, (4)I'm not sure if he'll actually train Dick in this fic, but he'll offer, (5) yeah, it's kind of part of how Batman figures out his identity.

**Red Shade43: You probably read my other review(s) but hi. And is it strange that when the computer blew up I just watched e everyone scream but batman just had a 'I don't care.' Face?**

-It took me a second to figure out what you were talking about, and then I noticed this was from chapter 6. But no, it's totally not :D

**Anna: hey so I love your work! It's really awesome! I am working on a batman fanfic too and i was just wondering...how would you describe the Wayne manor walking in the front door? this problem has been driving me insane and it is crucial that I figure it out. Please help.**

-Uh…well… I guess the way I picture it would be something like this: 'the large double doors were opened by a kind looking elderly man. He greeted them and ushered them into the foyer before closing the doors behind them. He offered to take their coats as they took in the space.

High ceilings soared overhead with an elaborate chandelier as the main focal point of the room. A large staircase rose from the marble floor several yards in front of them leading up to the second floor. Well-kept Potted plants rested in the corners and by the doors of the room and tasteful portraits and other paintings lined the walls. A long, ornate carpet stretched across the floor pulling their eyes to the many doors leading to other rooms that branched from the one they were currently occupying.'

Or something like that. I don't know if that helps at all and it's most likely not accurate, but…meh.

**Robinisnumberone: Amazing story, but I've got to ask since you're branching away from the season 1 plot into your own timeline, are you going to add the newer characters to the team? Zattana and Rocket?**

-No, I probably won't get to them. I am, as you said, branching out from the events shown in season 1, but it's still sort of following the time line and, at this point, basically between 'Infiltrator' where Artemis joined and they met the Shadows for the first time and I guess 'Bereft' which was they whole Bialya incident. Or between August and September – so the story skipped through time a lot in the beginning until it got to July where they, of course, save Superboy and then slowed down so now they are more or less in August and Zatanna doesn't make an appearance until 'Humanity' which is set in October and Rocket doesn't join until December.

.

**THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO READS AND REVIEWS!  
(If I missed something PM me or leave another review)**

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

"_They broke Bane out of Arkham, but have not contacted any Gotham villain otherwise" Batman replied._

"_Bane" Karasu growled._

"_You said that they finished recruiting villains. Does that mean whatever they are planning is going to happen soon?" Kaldur asked. Batman nodded grimly. _

.

Chapter 22

"So what do we do now?" Wally asked.

"We find out what they are planning" Batman replied

"How?" Artemis asked.

"Bane" was Batman's reply.

"What?" Wally asked. They were back on Bane again?

"Bane knows what's going on, why else would they have freed him? Definitely not his personality" Karasu stated.

"So we just need to find Bane and make him spill" Artemis said.

"But how will we do that?" M'gann asked.

"If he's in Gotham, then Batman can find him" Wally said confidently.

It was at that moment Superman, Flash, and Green Arrow arrived through the zeta beam. Karasu's eyes narrowed slightly and Batman raised an eyebrow.

"Batman, we need to talk" Superman said as he walked into the room.

"What do you want?" the Dark Knight replied.

"You can't keep leaving the League in the dark about this. It involves our cities as well" the Kryptonian said.

"And?" Batman asked in a bored tone.

"If you know or have any idea of what they're planning then you need to share the information with the League" Superman said.

"I don't" the darkly clad hero replied.

"Don't what?" Flash asked.

"I do not know what they are planning. I just got some information and am planning to pursue it. Once I know what the Shadows are plotting I will share it with the League" Batman replied.

"Where are you going to get this information from?" the speedster asked.

"The Shadows broke Bane out of Arkham. I'm going to find him and get their plan out of him" Batman replied.

"And how are you going to find him?" Superman asked.

"He's in Gotham, I'll find him" Batman returned evenly.

"It would be faster if we all searched for him" the Man of Steel said.

"No" Batman replied, eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Batman, now is not the time to be touchy about other heroes in Gotham" Superman said. Batman stared at him for a few moments.

"Fine" he said. Superman held back a relieved sigh when the Bat turned his gaze away.

"So we're going to Gotham to find Bane…then what?" Flash asked.

"Then he tells us what the Shadows told him" Batman stated.

"Okay, then how are we going to do this? Everyone splits up and searches a different part of the city, or in groups?" Flash inquired.

"Yes, Flash with Kid Flash, Artemis and Green Arrow, Aqualad, Superboy and Miss Martian. I will search by myself, and Karasu will go with Superman" Batman instructed.

"You can't be serious" Karasu intoned, a disgusted look on his face.

"I'm always serious" Batman replied.

"But with him?" Karasu continued jabbing his thumb at the Man of Steel.

"Come on, it's not that ba-" Superman started.

"No, you don't talk to me" Karasu snapped eyes narrowed.

"Look, I'm sorry-" Superman said.

"No!" the bird exclaimed.

"I know this is about what happened with your bike, but-" the Man of Steel tried again.

"Don't you _dare_ speak of that day" Karasu warned.

"How are we supposed to work together if you won't-" Superman said only to be interrupted again.

"We can work together" Karasu said reluctantly, "but I don't want you talking to me."

"Alright, kid-" Superman started exasperatedly. Karasu was suddenly directly in front of him, glaring up into his eyes.

"Do _not_ call me kid" he hissed. Superman sighed.

"Fine, but can I at least finish a sentence?" the Man of Steel asked.

"You just did" Karasu replied, his head tilted to the side slightly. Before Superman had a chance to retort, Batman stepped forward.

"Karasu" he said. The bird turned to him with an eyebrow raised questionably.

"Yeah?" he prompted.

"Don't complain" Batman admonished.

"Why? Because it's unbecoming or because it's annoying?" Karasu asked.

"Both" Batman replied. Karasu snorted in amusement.

"I see," the bird intoned, "but why him?" he asked with a pointed look in Superman's direction.

"Because he lacks all manner of subtleness" the Dark Knight replied.

"Are you saying I can't be stealthy?" Superman cut in defensibly.

"Yes" Batman replied bluntly.

"What do we balance out or something?" Karasu asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yes, you are better with stealth than most of those who are gathered in this room. He, on the other hand, can be spotted and recognized almost instantly" Batman explained.

"Alright, I get it. I don't like it, but I guess I can work with him" Karasu said with a resigned sigh.

"What did you do to him anyway?" Flash asked the Kryptonian in a whisper.

"I wasn't paying attention and accidentally wrecked his bike, but I don't see why he's that mad about it" Superman replied quietly.

"Maybe he's like Batman with the Batmobile" Flash mused. Superman shuttered. That was a scary thought.

"Each group will search for any information on Bane's whereabouts; if no one finds him within two hours we will meet and share information. Understood?" Batman said.

"What if we do find him?" Wally asked.

"Do not engage, inform everyone else – we can't let him escape" Batman replied.

.

After an hour and a half of searching they were no closer to finding him than when they first arrived. The speedsters searched around the outskirts of the city, the archers covered the east, Aqualad, Superboy and Miss Martain took the northern portion of the city, Batman took to the west, and Karasu and Superman had the south.

Karasu moved silently across the roof tops with Superman hovering close behind him. The Man of Steel was following Karasu to different locations where thugs and other criminals gathered to – for lack of a better term – gossip.

They caught bits of information – exchanges, shipments, plans to take out rival gangs, and other less than legal activities. Nothing, however, about Bane or the Shadows.

As the pair prepared to move on to a new location, a darkly clad figure stepped out of the shadows.

"Anything?" Batman inquired.

"No, what about you?" Superman asked.

"No" Batman replied.

A low beep sounded. Karasu glanced down at his wrist glad he had changed the sound, but it was still a bit too loud.

"What was that?" Superman asked. Karasu shot him a glare.

"My alarm, it's telling me that someone's at my house that shouldn't be" Karasu replied reluctantly.

"So like an alarm without the sirens?" the Man of Steel continued.

"I told you not to talk to me, but yeah, something like that" Karasu answered as he checked why it went off. "He's at my place _again_" the bird grumbled.

"Who?" Batman asked.

"Bane" Karasu replied.

"I'll call the others" Superman said.

.

Once everyone had arrived they quietly entered the building hoping to catch the villain by surprise. After almost half an hour of searching they had found nothing. They checked a few security cameras, but Bane had gone into an area where there weren't any cameras – something Karasu planned to remedy as soon as possible – and disappeared.

Not that it meant he had left the building, of course. Karasu informed them that some traps, such as trapdoors, fixed themselves after someone tripped them.

So they were left to wander through the building checking various traps and areas where there were no cameras.

Karasu was leading the way with Batman close behind him and the rest of the heroes following. As they were rounding the corner a voice rang out causing them to pause and turn around.

"Hey what's this?" Kid Flash asked staring at a panel that was protruding slightly from the wall.

"Don't touch-" Karasu started. The speedster pushed the panel in and the floor of the hall opened sending the heroes still in it down a gaping hole. Except Superman and the Miss Martian, both of whom flew down after the others. "-that" he finished with a sigh.

Batman and Karasu were left standing in the adjoining hall staring at the spot the other heroes had previously occupied as the floor slid back into place.

"Are they always this impulsive?" Karasu asked after a few moments of silence.

"Unfortunately" Batman replied.

"Well, I guess we should go get them" Karasu said with a sigh. "They'll be fine, by the way – if you were worried" he added.

"I wasn't" Batman replied.

"Yeah, I didn't figure you would be" Karasu said as he started toward the stair well.

.

They arrived in a basement like room with a large net stretched across part of the room. Presumably to catch the people who fell into the trap. The door to the stair well locked upon closing and could only be opened from the outside or with a key from inside.

Beneath the net was a group of heroes cornering a man with unnaturally large muscles.

"Well, what do you know? This is where he was" Karasu commented.

Batman didn't answer. Instead, he launched a batarang across the room causing Bane to stop his attack in order to dodge and saving Miss Martian who was about to be hit.

"Hey Pest, why'd you press the panel? You of all people should know that I trap this place" Karasu called. Bane spared a moment to glare at him, but didn't otherwise respond.

It didn't take long for the assembled heroes to back him into a corner. Especially after his Venom tube was severed by Superman.

He did put of a good fight. At one point he rushed Karasu who found it easier to dodge him than it had been in their previous encounters. Of course, he ended up running into Batman and forced back to the other group of heroes.

Once they had him totally cornered he reluctantly surrendered.

"Before we get into the heavier business, I want to ask you something, Bane" Karasu said.

"What?" the villain snapped.

"Why were you even here?" Karasu asked ignoring Bane's obvious irritation.

"To get rid of that infuriating vial, Niño" Bane growled.

"What, the Anti-Venom serum that I used last time? Did you really think that I would leave that just lying around?" Karasu asked with a raised eyebrow. Bane scowled.

"Finished?" Batman asked.

"Yeah, he's all yours" the bird replied. Superman stepped forward.

"What are the Shadows planning?" he asked.

"I have no idea what you are talking about" Bane said.

"Oh, then you want us to believe they broke you out of Arkham for no reason?" the Man of Steel asked.

"I know nothing of the Shadows" Bane repeated stubbornly.

"He is lying" Miss Martian commented.

"Is that so? Then why don't you tell us?" Superman asked.

"I do not have to reveal anything" Bane retorted.

"Let me handle this" Batman said stepping up to stand next to Superman. Bane switched his attention to the Dark Knight.

"It would be better for you if you cooperate" Batman stated evenly.

"What, I tell you what I know and I don't get sent back to Arkham?" Bane inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"No" Batman replied.

"Then how would it be better if I told you?" Bane asked with narrowed eyes.

"If you do, you won't be kept in the same cell as Joker for the rest of your incarceration" Batman replied. A look of horror crossed Bane's face before he could repress it.

"You can't control that" Bane retorted. Batman raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure?" he asked. Bane looked conflicted.

"Yes" he said with much less conviction than before.

"Can you risk it?" the Bat inquired. Bane fought with himself for a few moments then sighed.

"No" he replied. "The clown would truly drive me mad."

"Well…" Superman prompted.

"They're setting up bombs in highly populated areas of several cities. They were getting the help of different villains to keep the heroes busy" Bane replied.

"So what, they were planning to kill a ton of people? What would the point of that be?" Flash asked.

"No, as I said, the villains keep the heroes busy so they don't realize what is going on. Then when the bombs are ready, they contact the heroes and give them an ultimatum. Reveal their identity or hundreds of people die" Bane said.

"All of that for our identities?" Flash asked.

"Yes, the Shadows believe that many of the heroes will no longer be able to operate if their identities were compromised. With them out of the way, the Shadows would be able to expand and possibly takeover" the villain replied.

"So all we have to do is stop them from getting the bombs set up" Green Arrow said.

"And how long until then?" Superman asked turning back to Bane.

"The only place they haven't finished is here in Gotham" Bane said.

"How long until they finish?" Batman asked.

"Two or three days" Bane replied.

"So we have to catch them while they are here" Superman concluded.

"Well that's great, but we can't do anything until we get out or here" Flash said.

"Relax, I've got the key" Karasu said as he walked over and opened the door. The heroes filed out, Batman with the now handcuffed Bane. The door swung shut behind them and they started up the stairs.

"Since that's over with. What the heck was with the trap?" Kid Flash exclaimed.

"I told you there were traps" Karasu replied.

.

**First off, the basic idea of what the Shadows are up to came from theGirlNightwing. Thanks for that :D**

**A couple of days later than I was hoping, but still earlier than it has been – so that's an improvement. Sorry about that.**

**Well, Happy Thanksgiving (Eve, I guess) to all of you who celebrate it, and if you're planning to go shopping on Black Friday…good luck and don't get trampled.**

**BYE!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing!

.

**A/N: Responding again :p**

**Leigh/Maddie Seth**: Hello again! I commented on the last chapter saying i drew karasu, thats me! Anyway, I got a deviant art.. I don't know if you care, just thought I'd tell you! :) I had to make a new one bc something was wrong with my last one ... But anyway my computer doesnt like me, so it doesn't let me upload pics! But ill try to figure it out and get the doodles of karasu up sometime! My deviantart account is MaddieSeth.. Yup ;3 I don't have anything up yet.. But I'll figure it out! :P Btw.. Still think this story ROCKS! Ok I'm done :3

- _Totally interested in seeing it! I had a tough time getting mine up, too. I ended up posting it on paint and using that to put it up on the site. I'll keep checking to see if you get it up and then link it in a chapter :D_

**No-Time-To-Regret**: Your story is AWESOME. The only thing I don't understand is why Karasu hides his face if no one will recognize him; Dick hides his eyes because it is easy to see who he is, but Karasu shows his eyes and I'm a bit confused.  
But it doesn't matter, we all love to see a Ninja!Dick :D  
So, I did a drawing of Karasu, it was not that good but was made from heart (?) It is in DA if you want to see (my nick is nandasousa).  
I'm anxious for the next update!

- _*shrugs* I dunno, just part of his look. Link to the picture in the author's note at the bottom of the page!_

**Guest: **Two things:  
1. I'm just read the start from start to chapter 22 now. How often do you update?  
And  
2. Around how many chapters are left?  
I love Karasu :)

-_ When I started I updated like every other day, but my timing's gotten worse as the story has progressed... I'm trying to be no more than three weeks in between (and sometimes fail), but since the school semester's ending I'm hoping to have more time to work on it. As for the amount of chapters left... I keep saying like three or four, but it's always changing - the fight with the Shadows is the last major thing - then it's be his past and then the end. So...no more than ten?_

_._

**THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO READS AND REVIEWS!**

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

"_Since that's over with. What the heck was with the trap?" Kid Flash exclaimed._

"_I told you there were traps" Karasu replied._

.

Chapter 23

The group arrived back at Mt. Justice minus Superman who was called away to take care of something in Metropolis before meeting to discuss what they planned to do next.

So they were left standing around awkwardly and waiting. Well, they were all awkward except Batman; he had decided to ignore everyone else in favor of working on something with the computer. That, and he was never awkward.

The team moved off to the side of the room and Karasu ended up with them after a few moments. This left Flash and Green Arrow standing behind Batman talking quietly to one another.

"What do you think Superman had to do?" M'gann asked. The others shrugged.

"He probably had to go save Lois or something. It is getting around the time for her to be kidnapped again. Got to make her quota for the month, after all" Karasu replied. Kid Flash and Artemis snickered.

"True" the speedster intoned.

They lapsed back into silence and after a few moments Karasu plopped onto the ground with his legs stretched out straight in front of him. He sat like that for awhile as the others regarded him curiously. Then he leaned forward, bending himself completely in half – his head leaning on his knees.

Karasu continued to stretch, his positions getting more and more elaborate and, in some of the teen's opinions, impossible.

The older heroes were also watching with some interest. Even Batman was observing the boy out of the corner of his eye.

'_That is not something you can pick up off the street. He has professional training'_ Batman thought, adding the information to the growing amount of what he knows about Karasu_. 'From a young age'_ he added as Karasu moved to a new position.

"Ugh, dude, please don't do that" Kid Flash said with a shutter. Karasu paused in the middle of an upside down split, standing on his hands.

"Why, you don't like it?" the bird asked innocently.

"It disturbs me a bit actually" Kid Flash replied.

"Really? I find myself rather turbing" Karasu returned with a smirk.

"Turbing?" M'gann asked.

"Yeah, turbing – disturbing without the _dis_" Karasu replied shifting into a regular hand stand before pushing himself off the ground and back onto his feet.

"That seems familiar – the messing with prefixes thing I mean" Wally mused. "Where have I heard it before?" the speedster continued, face scrunched up in thought.

"Don't hurt yourself, Baywatch. We all know that you have bad memory for anything not science related" Artemis admonished.

"HEY! That's not true – you're the one with the bad memory" Wally retorted.

"And where do you get that?" Artemis asked in an amused tone.

"Where'd you get that I had a bad memory?" Wally countered.

"Please, it's not like—" Artemis started.

"Wally, Artemis, now is not the time to fight" Kaldur interrupted sternly. The two glared at each other before turning away from one another. Wally blinked.

"Where's Karasu?" he asked noticing that the bird was no longer with the group.

"He's over there" M'gann replied pointing to the makeshift target range on the other side of the room.

"When'd he go over there?" Wally asked.

"While you and Artemis were flirting" Conner replied.

"Who taught you about flirting?" Artemis asked with a raised eyebrow. Rather than answer her question, the clone walked over to watch Karasu throw knives at the different targets.

A few moments later Superman arrived in a flash of light from the zeta beam. Since Batman did not acknowledge his presence, he figured that they weren't ready to leave yet.

So instead of pestering the Dark Knight – which has never gotten anyone anywhere – he drifted over to the other heroes who were all watching Karasu practice with his knives.

"Where did you pick up knife throwing?" Superman asked, genuinely interested as the bird began gathering his knives from the various targets.

"You want the full story?" Karasu asked stopping and turning to the Man of Steel with a raised eyebrow.

"Let's go" Batman interrupted, walking towards the door. Superman glanced at him then back to Karasu.

"We don't have time, so don't bother with an explanation. Just the answer" he said.

"You sure?" Karasu asked.

"Yeah, we don't have time to waste" Superman replied resolutely. Karasu nodded in a contemplating manner.

"Pickles" he answered.

"Pickles?" Superman repeated, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Yep. Pickles was the reason I started learning knife throwing" Karasu replied placing the last of his throwing knives back into the pouch and walking past Superman to follow Batman and the other heroes to the zeta beams.

"What does that have to do with learning how to throw knives?" Superman inquired following after the bird.

"Ah-ah – you said you only wanted my answer, and that you didn't want to waste time with the explanation. If you don't understand then it's hardly my problem" Karasu replied stepping into the zeta tube and disappearing.

"Why does he have to be as stubborn as Batman?" Superman asked the empty air. He, of course, received no answer. He shook his head as he entered the zeta tube, muttering 'pickles' under his breath.

.

Superman stepped out of the old phone booth and into the alley where the other heroes and Karasu were gathered.

"Ok, we're all here – what's the plan?" Green Arrow asked turning his attention to Batman.

"There's a plan?" Karasu piped in. The heroes all turned to stare at him. "What? It just seems like you guys always charge in and act on instinct or something" he defended.

"Some people find it…difficult to stick to a plan" Batman explained.

"I see" Karasu replied.

"No you don't," Superman cut in then turned to Batman, "Batman, that's not true." Karasu raised an eyebrow.

"Yes it is" Batman stated.

"It is" Flash agreed, his grin slightly sheepish. Superman's shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Yeah, but he doesn't need to let everyone know" he replied. Green Arrow patted the Kryptonian's back.

"Cheer up – besides, Karasu probably won't tell anyone. Right?" Flash said.

"I don't really talk to anyone but Joker, and he wouldn't know what to do with the information anyway" Karasu replied with a shrug.

"See, no harm done" Green Arrow said. Batman rolled his eyes. Idiots.

"If you are all finished, we have work to do" he stated monotonously.

"Right, sorry – on with the plan" Flash said.

"We will likely be encountering a group of assassins setting up the bomb. In all probability that will be Cheshire's group – Cheshire, Hook, Black Spider, and Professor Ojo . We have to assume that they know we got the information from Bane. They will probably have back up. Be ready" Batman said.

"What kind of backup? Well trained or common thug?" Karasu asked.

"Lightly trained, most likely part of the organization, but not important enough for the time and effort to train well – typical henchmen" the Dark Knight replied.

"Oh, I can take typical henchmen" Karasu said, a menacing smirk hidden under his mask.

"Good, because that is what the team and you will be doing" Batman said glancing at Aqualad who nodded. "Superman, Flash, Green Arrow, and I will take on the assassins" the Dark Knight continued.

"So the teens take all the henchmen and we get the assassins – works for me" Flash said.

"Good, let's go" Batman said.

.

According to Batman, they were only a few blocks away from the location where the Shadows would be setting up the bomb. They decided to forgo vehicles and walk there – which was probably for the best considering they didn't want anyone knowing they were there.

They were about a block away when Batman suddenly stopped and turned to stare intently into a dark alley they were passing.

"What's wrong?" Flash asked not seeing anything. Batman glanced back at him.

"We have company" he replied.

"Should've known I couldn't sneak up on you" a young male voice said. Its owner walked up to the group and they relaxed.

"Speedy! What are you doing here?" Green Arrow asked. Red Arrow's eyes narrowed.

"It's Red Arrow" he growled.

"Right, sorry – old habits die hard" Green Arrow replied sheepishly.

"What are you doing here" Batman demanded.

"I protect Star City, too. I have a right to be involved in this" Red Arrow retorted.

"Batman don't be so hostile, I know he's here in Gotham without permission, but look at the bright side, he doesn't have powers" Superman said. Batman just glared at him, but didn't demand that Red Arrow leave.

"Hey, who's this?" Red Arrow asked noticing an unfamiliar face in the group.

"This is Karasu, he's going to help us out" Kid Flash replied.

"Karasu huh, what are you – some new hero?" Red Arrow asked.

"A hero? Not hardly" Karasu replied. Red Arrow furrowed his brows in confusion.

"Wait, you're not a hero? At all?" he asked.

"Nope" Karasu answered.

"What are you guys doing bringing some kid into this?" the archer demanded, spinning around to face the other heroes.

"Hey!" Karasu barked. Red Arrow turned back to him, stiffening a little at the anger in the bird's bi-colored eyes. Once Karasu was sure he had the older boy's attention he continued.

"Do _not_ call me kid" he growled.

"Seriously – don't. He threatened _Superman_ for doing that" Kid Flash broke in.

"I'll call you whatever I want to – kid" Red Arrow taunted, ignoring the speedster. Karasu tilted his head, eyes narrowed in a dangerous glare.

"And what if I called _you_ a sidekick?" he asked casually pulling out his dagger.

"I'm nobody's sidekick – I was Green Arrow's _partner_, but not anymore" Red Arrow spat. Karasu nodded in a contemplative manner, casually examining the edges of his blade.

"You know…I would have thought that the _first sidekick_ would act more mature than this. I'm surprised you shun such a noble position. Learning from and helping one of the League's best in the battle against evil and all that" he said.

Most of the heroes – sans Batman – looked confused at the 'first sidekick' bit – thinking Kid Flash was the first – while Green Arrow and Red Arrow both looked shocked.

"How do you know that?" Red Arrow demanded. Karasu shrugged.

"I know a lot of things I probably shouldn't" he replied. "But really Speedy, they keep something secret from you and when you find out you just quit?"

"It's Red Arrow" the archer snarled.

"I'll call you by your 'hero' name when you learn to act like one" Karasu rebuked venomously.

"Karasu" Batman cut in coolly. Karasu glanced over at him and sighed.

"Sorry, I know – no time. I'll make it quick" he said turning back to the fuming archer.

"Ok look, you don't like being called a sidekick – I don't like being called _kid_." He spat the word out in disgust. "So you have a decision to make. Call me kid again and I'll slice through one of those muscles in your arm and make it so that you never use a bow again, or call me by my _name_ and we let bygones be bygones. I might even call you by your new persona" he tacked on. Red Arrow glared for a moment then sighed.

"Alright ki-" Karasu's eyes flashed dangerously, dagger clenched tightly in his hand, daring him to finish the word.

"Alright, alright – just put the knife down. I won't call you that anymore" Red Arrow said. Karasu nodded, satisfied for the moment.

"Let's go" Batman ordered, moving forward again. The others fell into step – Karasu staying as far away as possible from both Red Arrow and Superman, having been reminded of one of the many reasons he didn't like the Man of Steel and nearly adding the crimson colored archer to his list with Bane and Superman.

.

**Yay, I threw Roy in there!**

**Sorry it's taken so long, I have lost all sense of time, plus finals (TESTS! D: …the horror), and I had my wisdom teeth violently ripped right out'a mah gums (on a positive note – not as bad as I thought it would be), general writer's block, the holidays and all that…yeah…excuses…meh**

**Also, I'm addicted to Spelunky. I'll get that darn key to the end of the ice level if it's the last thing I do *clenches fists in determination* (Spelunky's an Xboxlive arcade game – just in case you didn't know)**

**You know, this story was intended to have, like, twelve chapters. What the walrus happened. Yes, I meant walrus – it's something I say occasionally. It's not supposed to make sense. That's the point – it makes you stop and think :p**

**Pickles will be explained along with the rest of his past**

**Link to No-Time-To-Regret's picture on DeviantArt:**

h-t-t-p : /-/ browse. deviantart-.-com-/ ?qh=& section=&global=1&q=nandasousa#/d5n503o

**(remove all spaces and hiphens, if it doesn't work try looking up nandasousa on DA)**

**BYE!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Young Justice

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

"_Alright ki-" Karasu's eyes flashed dangerously, dagger clenched tightly in his hand, daring him to finish the word._

"_Alright, alright – just put the knife down. I won't call you that anymore" Red Arrow said. Karasu nodded, satisfied for the moment._

"_Let's go" Batman ordered, moving forward again. The others fell into step – Karasu staying as far away as possible from both Red Arrow and Superman, having been reminded of one of the many reasons he didn't like the Man of Steel and nearly adding the crimson colored archer to his list with Bane and Superman._

.

Chapter 24

"Remember, the League handles the assassin's, the henchmen are up to you" Batman stated with a look in the teens' direction as they arrived at the location.

"I don't work for you people, I'll fight where I deem necessary" Red Arrow rebuked, arms crossed over his chest defiantly.

"You will do as I say or you _will_ leave my city" Batman growled, eyes narrowed dangerously. Red Arrow scoffed, but didn't argue further.

"Fine, I'll help your lackeys fight off the henchmen" he said.

"Come on Red Arrow, don't be like that" Kid Flash said.

"You know they're just using you. I don't know why you let it happen" Red Arrow retorted. Kid Flash sighed quietly. Karasu moved forward unnoticed coming to a stop next to the speedster.

"You want me to slice his arm?" he asked casually. Kid Flash jumped and turned to him, taking a moment to let what he said sink in after getting over the initial shock of the bird's sudden appearance at his side.

"What? No – he's just been grumpy lately. Teenage rebellion and all that – he's not that bad usually" Kid Flash replied. Karasu shrugged.

"Whatever you say, but the offer still stands" he said. Red Arrow glanced at them suspiciously.

"What are you two going on about?" he demanded.

"None of your business, Speedy" Karasu rebuked.

"I thought you agreed to call me Red Arrow" the archer accused.

"I said I _might_ call you by your hero name. I was thinking about doing it, too. But you went and proved that you don't deserve it" Karasu replied. Red Arrow's eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"And just how did I do that?" he asked.

"Badmouthing your friends right in front of their faces – that's no way to keep healthy relationships, you know" Karasu answered.

"They were the ones who decided to stay and let the League continue lying to them and using them" Red Arrow argued.

"Lying? Withholding information isn't lying – I'm guessing none of you ever asked if the headquarters in DC was the real one or not" Karasu replied.

"How do you know about that?" Green Arrow asked suddenly. Karasu turned to the older archer, eyebrows raised.

"Speedy's the one who ranted about it in full view of a public audience" he replied.

"I was not _ranting_" the crimson archer defended. Karasu rolled his eyes.

"Throwing a tantrum then" he amended.

"I don't throw tantrums… I was making a point" Red Arrow argued.

"Tell that to your hat. You threw that poor thing onto the floor like a raging five year old" Karasu retorted.

"It was symbolic" Red Arrow said. Karasu snorted.

"Yeah, now that you've had time to come up with an excuse. At the time it was your temper" he replied.

"We're getting away from the main problem here. The glass at the DC headquarters is soundproof; no one in the observation room could hear what was being said" Superman said. "_I _can barely hear what is said on the other side of it" he added. Karasu raised an eyebrow. His gaze flicked up and down the Man of Steel, seeming to size him up as he decided whether or not to answer.

"Who said anything about hearing?" he asked finally. Superman's eye brows furrowed slightly.

"Then how do you know what he was talking about?" he asked.

"He read Red Arrow's lips" Batman cut in dryly. A grin spread beneath Karasu's mask.

"You are good" he said. Batman rolled his eyes slightly.

"None of that changes that they let the League use them" Red Arrow grumbled moodily, pushing himself back into the conversation.

"Right, disobeying orders and storming a secret lab while saving a clone of Superman then making their own team. Definitely the League using _them_" Karasu retorted.

"Dude, you're not going to beat him here – you might as well give up" Kid Flash interrupted, patting Red Arrow's shoulder good naturedly.

"Maybe if he wasn't so stubborn" the archer muttered. Karasu grinned at him, eyes sparkling mischievously.

"If you are finished" Batman cut in. He stared at them until they nodded. "Good, now come on – we don't have much more time to waste here" the Dark Knight said as he slipped into the building.

.

Apparently the team's knack for having things go wrong was starting to rub off on the League. That or the League's own bad luck was acting up.

They found the assassins and henchmen fairly easily, but nothing seemed to go right after that. The fight ended up being one big brawl rather than the somewhat organized fight Batman had described.

The assassins – minus Professor Ojo who stayed back to guard the bomb – immediately went for the teens. The Leaguers moved to intercept them and then the henchmen decided to charge in resulting in a massive free-for-all.

Superboy charged in bowling over several of the henchmen while Kid Flash worked to disarm others. Aqualad, in the middle of a group of thugs, gradually took his opponents down while keeping an eye out on the rest of his team. Artemis and Red Arrow hung back, taking shots at key times and leaving many men wrapped in nets. M'gann helped Kid Flash to disarm the men and Karasu flitted about making it nearly impossible for whomever he targeted to concentrate, leading them to be taken down easily by himself or whichever hero happened to be close by.

The Leaguers steadily worked their way through the throng to face the assassins who were scattered amongst the henchmen.

.

Superman hovered just over the mass of people trying to pinpoint the location of one of the assassins.

Suddenly something came flying at him from below. The Man of Steel quickly evaded the projectile noticing two things. One: it was a hook, and two: it was attached to a chain. Meaning it was very likely to come back.

Superman flew up higher removing himself from the weapon's range. He followed the length of chain back to its point of origin.

Hook retracted the chain and launched it at Superman again. As the Kryptonian began to dodge left, Hook grabbed the chain and redirected the weapon into Superman's path forcing the hero to take evasive actions.

The hook still managed to graze Superman's arm and that's when he noticed a third– and far more important – thing about the weapon.

It was coated in a very thin layer of Kryptonite.

Of course.

Luckily it wasn't enough to affect him other than actually making the weapon capable of injuring him. He'd still have to keep his distance.

With that thought in mind Superman dodged the hook which was coming at him for a third time. As it flew past him, the Man of Steel used his heat vision to break the chain.

With nothing to hold it back, the hook continued flying through the air before embedding itself in the ceiling.

With the threat of Kryptonite out of the way, Superman charged the assassin. He hit the villain with enough force to throw him into the wall on the other side of the room.

Hook slid limply to the floor, where he remained.

.

Flash was quite literally running circles around Black Spider. The Scarlet Speedster gradually reduced the radius of his circling path, drawing closer and closer to the assassin.

While Flash took on Black Spider, Green Arrow was taking down any henchmen that got too close. He was also keeping an eye out for Cheshire who had disappeared shortly after the fight began.

Suddenly a laser blast shot past Green Arrow. The archer turned and caught a glance of Professor Ojo through the mass of people. He ducked down as another blast passed by.

"Flash!" the green clad hero called in warning as he watched Professor Ojo take aim at the speedster.

Flash shot him a curious glance then followed his line of site spotting Ojo just as he was firing. Eyes widened slightly, the speedster quickly threw himself out of the laser's path.

"Can't you do something about him?" Flash exclaimed as he dodged an attack from Black Spider.

"What am I supposed to do?" Green Arrow mumbled to himself looking at the barrier of people between him and Professor Ojo.

As he watched the group shifted, blocking the assassin from his sight. Hopefully that meant that he couldn't see them, either.

Acting on instinct, Green Arrow threw himself to the left. Turning he found one of the henchmen, fist still outstretched from where he had just attempted to take the hero down.

Grabbing his bow with both hands, Green Arrow swung smacking the weapon into the henchmen's chin and knocking him to the ground.

He cast a quick look at Flash who was dodging blasts of dark colored webbing from Black Spider. Seeing that his friend was holding his own for the moment, he turned his attention back to where Professor Ojo had been standing.

He caught site of Ojo as the assassin fired off another blast. Green Arrow dodged and looked back in time to see Professor Ojo fall to the ground. He caught the barest hint of black before his view of the spot was blocked once more.

At least they wouldn't have to worry about Ojo anymore.

Black Spider launched his black webbing toward Flash. The hero dodged the sticky substance and lunged at Black Spider.

The speedster's punch glanced off the side of the villain's face as Black Spider jumped back to avoid him.

As the assassin readied a counter attack he found himself wrapped in a net. Unable to keep his balance, Black Spider toppled to the ground where he struggled in vain to free himself.

"Nice one Green Arrow" Flash complimented.

"I do what I can" the archer replied, knocking another arrow and letting it loose into the throng of people.

.

Kicking yet another henchman out of his way, Batman finally made it over to the bomb and its protector. Professor Ojo didn't notice him at first – still preoccupied with firing blasts at Green Arrow and Flash.

By the time he did notice the Dark Knight it was much too late to defend himself. Batman landed a solid punch straight into the man's helmet covered face, shattering the weapon and the villain's nose. Ojo staggered trying to keep his balance and put distance between himself and Batman while fighting the blackness creeping into his vision. The villain managed one step backwards before his feet were swept out from under him.

Ojo landed hard on the floor.

Eyeing the slumped body for a moment and deciding that, yes he was indeed unconscious; Batman stepped over the villain and began to study the bomb.

.

Cheshire slid out of the shadows as the last of her comrades – not including the mass of henchmen – was taken down. She sighed irritably.

The Shadows were _not_ going to be happy about this.

They could have done this without getting any of Gotham's villains involved, but the higher ups in the Shadows wouldn't let them. So of course, they brought in Bane – at least he wasn't completely crazy.

It might have worked out if he didn't have some score to settle with Karasu. They brought the henchmen knowing that Batman would have figured out what they were up to and come to stop them. They had hoped that the henchmen would buy them enough time to get the bomb set.

They did not, however, anticipate that the Bat would bring three other Leaguers _and_ his little side kick team – plus Karasu and Green Arrow's old side kick.

They made preparations for Superman, just in case, but assumed they would need it more for his clone. Having both of them show up was not what they expected. And having Superman defeat Hook so easily was _definitely_ not what they needed.

Watching the fight with a keen eye, she noticed Kid Flash flitting about and she smirked as she reached for her sais.

Maybe a distraction was in order to turn this mess around.

.

Karasu caught the glint of metal out of the corner of his eyes as he landed on a thug's shoulder. Kicking the man's head and flipping off as the thug landed face down on the floor; he turned his full attention to the area where the brief flash of light had originated from.

Narrowing his eyes upon noticing Cheshire, the bird glanced over to see what she was staring at. Seeing Kid Flash, who was not even looking in the assassin's direction, Karasu turned quickly back to Cheshire.

He watched the assassin pull her arm back in an all too familiar motion and burst into action.

.

The blade was speeding toward Kid Flash and he didn't notice it until it would be too late to dodge – even for a speedster. When he did see it, all the speedster could do was close his eyes and wait for the pain to come.

But the pain that he did feel wasn't what he had been expecting.

What hit the young speedster was much larger and significantly (and thankfully) less sharp than the object he had caught a glimpse of coming at him. The only pain he felt was when he hit the floor and rolled across it.

When Kid Flash opened his eyes he found himself on the floor a little ways from the fight.

He looked around to see what had pushed him out of the way and was surprised to find Karasu on the ground next to him.

The acrobat pushed himself up off the floor with a light grunt and offered a hand to pull the speedster up as well. Kid Flash took it and allowed Karasu to pull him up.

"Thanks" he said gratefully.

"Think nothing of it, Flash Boy" Karasu replied teasingly as he brushed himself off, keeping himself turned slightly to the left.

"Hey!" Kid Flash exclaimed defensibly.

"Straw" Karasu replied seriously. He snickered at Kid Flash's confused face before leaving the speedster and heading back to the fight.

"_Straw_?" Kid Flash mouthed. His eyes widened in realization. "Oh – hay and straw – ha ha very funny" he muttered. He looked around noticing that Karasu was gone.

"It's Kid Flash!" he yelled belatedly, kicking himself for letting the bird distract him. Shaking his head Kid Flash went to step forward; his foot connected with something and sent it clattering across the floor.

Looking down he found one of Cheshire's sais on the ground among a few dark spots. Upon closer inspection he realized that it was blood.

Not much, but it was definitely blood.

"_Did Karasu get hit when he pushed me aside?" _Kid Flash wondered as he turned to look at the bird who was sneaking up behind a henchmen. _"Well he seems fine, I guess it wasn't too bad?"_

He pushed his thoughts aside. He'd been standing out here thinking for too long. He pulled his goggles down and rejoined the fight.

.

Cheshire's eyes narrowed in annoyance. The kid just had to go and mess things up, didn't he?

Whatever, maybe this could work, too. Even though it would have been better if it was the speedster who got hit.

The assassin turned her attention back to the task at hand. She had to get to the bomb.

.

Batman cut the final wire, defusing the bomb and rendering it useless – granted that no one there could rearm it.

Looking around he noticed movement in the left. With a frown he melted into the shadows.

.

Cheshire glanced at the bomb suspiciously. She could have sworn that she saw Batman there. He wasn't in the mess of henchmen, so where did he go?

Her question was answered when a black fist flew out of the shadows to her side. The assassin just managed to dodge the blow.

She retaliated immediately, throwing her own fist at him only for the Dark Knight to deflect it with his forearm.

Cursing under her breath, Cheshire launched herself backwards to dodge what promised to be a debilitating kick.

This was not good. She was no push over, but Batman had years of experience and superior strength over her.

Suddenly the far wall exploded sending debris through the air. The fighters paused staring at the hole. A chilling cackle echoed through the room as a figure appeared.

"Now what do we have here?" Joker asked, shrugging a large missile launcher off his shoulder and carelessly letting it fall to the ground.

The jolt caused it to discharge, the projectile flying just over everyone's heads and obliterating the opposite wall.

"Whoopsie daisy" Joker said breaking into psychotic laughter. Once the madman had calmed down he scanned the crowd, his grinned stretching to its limit when he spotted Karasu.

"Karasu! So nice to see you again" he exclaimed brandishing a knife. Karasu waved at him before smacking an unfortunate thug in the back of the head with the broad side of his own dagger.

And just like that the room erupted back into fighting. Joker worked his way over to Karasu, grin never slipping.

"This is the most fun I've had in days" the clown exclaimed stabbing a man in the arm.

"Whatever you say, Joker. Just don't kill anyone, ok?" Karasu replied. Joker mock pouted.

"Aw, but that takes the fun out of it" he whined.

"Then think of it as a game – see what damage you can cause without them dying" Karasu retorted cheerfully. Joker's grin returned full force.

.

Cheshire looked away from Joker back to Batman and cursed. Apparently Batman had taken it upon himself to cuff her while she was distracted. She mentally kicked herself. That was so stupid of her.

Cheshire huffed.

Of course the Bat wouldn't be distracted by Joker's sudden appearance. He dealt with the clown on a regular basis; the man was no doubt immune to it by now.

.

The remaining henchmen were taken down relatively quickly. Some noticeably more injured than others, but none of them dead.

Joker had left soon after the fight ended saying something about finding 'Baney-Boy' and giving him a talking to for not showing up at the party that he had told the clown quite clearly he would not attend.

Batman finished tying Cheshire securely before standing and taking stock of everything in the room. The team and Red Arrow were standing off to the side keeping an eye on the group of henchmen while the League watched over the assassins.

Karasu was noticeably missing. But Batman had been expecting for him to disappear soon after everything ended.

He did not, however, expect the odd feeling he had gotten when he caught a glance of the bird toward the end on the fight. The very feeling that still hadn't gone away and was actually getting worse. His eyes narrowed slightly.

.

Red Arrow was standing with the team when he a flash of color caught his eye. Walking over to it he found himself looking down at a red feather. Where had that come from?

"What's with the feather?" Red Arrow asked, picking up the crimson colored item off the floor.

"Huh? Oh, Karasu does that sometimes – been awhile, though" Kid Flash answered appearing next to him in a gust of wind. Red Arrow furrowed his eyebrows.

"Why?" he asked. The speedster just shrugged.

"I don't know, he hasn't had any reason to maybe" he replied.

"No, I mean why does he do it?" Red Arrow clarified. Kid Flash thought for a second.

"A calling card I guess?" he answered unsurely.

"Who is he, Joker?" Red Arrow asked incredulously. Kid Flash grinned.

"No – Joker's best friend" he stated.

"Seriously?" Red Arrow exclaimed.

"Yeah, they have card parties and everything. Didn't you see how they interacted just now" Kid Flash said, grin firmly in place.

"Yeah, but it was _Joker_, he's not normal – and card parties? Seriously?" the archer replied. Suddenly he realized something, his head snapping up "So wait - he's a villain and you all agree to work with him?" he asked.

"What? No. Not a villain. Karasu's more of a neutral than anything" Kid Flash replied. Somehow that didn't make Red Arrow feel much better. But if no one else was worried about Karasu, then he wouldn't dwell on it too much. He'd just have to keep an eye on the bird.

"Time to go, Commissioner Gordon will be here soon to pick these guys up" Green Arrow called. Nodding, the teens started to leave.

"Oh wait, I almost forgot my souvenir" Kid Flash said. He looked around and found the sai near where he had landed when Karasu pushed him earlier.

"Be careful with that, it is covered in a deadly toxin" Aqualad warned.

"Wha!" Kid Flash cried dropping the weapon as if it had shocked him. Artemis shook her head in amusement.

"Maybe you wanna find a different souvenir, Baywatch?" she asked with a smirk.

"Nah, I want this one because…" the speedster trailed off, freezing as he carefully picked the sai back up. "Oh crap" he muttered.

"What's wrong?" Superboy asked.

"Karasu" Kid Flash replied.

"What?" Artemis asked, eyebrows furrowed lightly.

"Karasu, he was hit by this when he pushed me out of its path. That's why I wanted it as a souvenir…"

"So he's?" M'gann started.

"Poisoned" Aqualad finished grimly.

"But he seemed fine before he vanished – err - left" Kid Flash said.

"Maybe it's slow acting?" Superboy suggested.

"It is more likely that he was acting like it wasn't affecting him" Aqualad replied.

"Why would he do that?" M'gann asked.

"Didn't want to show weakness, who knows how he thinks" Artemis explained.

"Perhaps he did not realize he was poisoned." Aqualad said grimly.

.

**So I was wrong – a break from school does not, in fact, equal more time to write. Yay for the holidays ~**

**MaddieSeth got her picture up on DeviantArt if you want to check it out. You should. Go now.**

**.**

h-t-t p: /-/ maddieseth . deviantart .-com / gallery/#/d5qn6bc

**. **

**I hit a brick wall on this chapter early on and once I finally jack-hammered my way through it I found that a steel wall lay behind. Broke my jackhammer on it after barely making a dent. Eventually I just decided to turn around and go in a completely different direction.**

**Buuuuuut my inability to let it go caused me to circle back. So I ended up with a compromise. **

**Needless to say, this chapter isn't exactly what I wanted – but it is progress sooooo….yeah.**

**ALL IN THE NAME OF PROGRESS! *dramatic music***

**Also, fight scenes….**

**I'm serious. It took me for-freaking-ever to figure out how to do it. I ended up with a free for all, but then I wanted to at least have some of the individual fights. And then it became a bunch of individual fights going on at the same time, but separated… And it's just…gah!**

_**Fight scenes **_

***sigh***

**At least the chapter's longer than usual…by like 1500 words, too – almost another whole chapter. That's something.**

…

**Right?**

**Seriously though, I'm sorry about taking this long. It made me lie (in my answer/comment thingie in the last chapter). I went over three weeks (way over).**

***bangs head on table***

**BYE!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer**: I'm no closer to owning Young Justice than I am to taking over the world. Honestly don't want to take over the world anyway – too much trouble.

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

"_But he seemed fine before he vanished – err - left" Kid Flash said._

"_Maybe it's slow acting?" Superboy suggested._

"_It is more likely that he was acting like it wasn't affecting him" Aqualad replied._

"_Why would he do that?" M'gann asked._

"_Didn't want to show weakness, who knows how he thinks" Artemis explained._

"_Perhaps he did not realize he was poisoned." Aqualad said grimly._

.

Chapter 25

"We've got to tell Batman" Kid Flash stated decisively.

"Are you sure Batman would want to go looking for him?" Artemis asked.

"Are you kidding? Batman actually seems to _like_ him – and Batman doesn't like _anyone_" the speedster replied.

"Even if he did not like Karasu, I believe he would want to help him. I agree with Kid Flash, we have to inform Batman" Aqualad said.

"Right" Kid Flash replied with a nod. He turned and jumped when he nearly ran into Batman.

"Inform me of what?" the Dark Knight demanded. Kid Flash took a startled step back.

"Batman! How long have you been standing there?" he exclaimed.

"Inform me of what." Batman repeated, this time making it seem even less like a question than before.

"Right, obviously not long enough to know what we wanted to tell you. Sorry. Karasu's been poisoned, but he left and we don't know where to find him" the speedster replied.

"Poisoned?" Batman repeated eyes narrowed thoughtfully. It would explain why the acrobat seemed off before he vanished even though there were no signs of a serious injury.

"Yeah, he got hit by one of Cheshire's sais" Artemis said.

"When?" Batman asked.

"Towards the end of the fight, he pushed me out of the way and I guess he ended up getting hit himself" Kid Flash explained. Batman frowned before turning around and heading out of the room. He stopped at the door and glanced back over his shoulder at the teens.

"Get back to the Mountain. Have the med-bay ready" he instructed.

"Yes, sir" Aqualad replied. Batman nodded and disappeared into the hall.

.

As Batman left the building he paused to consider where Karasu was most likely to go. They had walked to the scene from the nearest zeta tube and Batman was the only one who had known where they were heading, so Karasu's bike wouldn't be anywhere nearby. That would mean he was on foot, or had taken to the rooftops with his grapping hook.

No. He would know that he was injured, maybe even realized that he had been poisoned. He wouldn't risk falling – he was too smart for that.

He set off on foot then.

So, where would he go? The most likely option would be back to the boarded-up office building Karasu had brought them to after Bane had fallen into one of his traps. Karasu's self-claimed territory was west of the building that the Shadows had been using.

With that in mind, Batman set off down a nearby alley.

He had only gone half a block when he noticed a red feather lying conspicuously in the middle of the alley. He picked the feather up and twirled it between his fingers. Batman was well aware that these didn't just fall off of Karasu's cape – the scarf either, before it had been incinerated – they were attached firmly to the fabric so Karasu could leave them only where _he_ wanted them to be.

So, why would Karasu have left this _here_?

Sliding the feather into a spare compartment of his utility belt, Batman continued down the alley keeping a sharp eye for anything out of place.

Again, after about half a block, he found a feather. It was definitely not accidental. Karasu was leaving a trail.

But why?

Picking up the feather he noticed a small arrow etched in the ground below it. Batman straightened up and looked in the direction the arrow was pointing. Another alley branched off from the one he was standing in and, taking the instruction left to him, Batman set off down the second alleyway.

.

After collecting six additional feathers, some with arrows directing him down adjacent alleys and some without, Batman found himself staring down at, not a feather, but a knife.

One of Karasu's throwing knives to be exact.

The blade lay in the middle of a cross shaped intersection between alleys. Karasu wasn't anywhere in sight, so the question became whether to continue in the direction that the blade pointed in – which would be the obvious choice since it was like the point of an arrow, or in the direction that the handle did?

The blade itself is violence –unchecked and blood thirsty, but when the handle is added, the blade is controlled. The weapon has a purpose – the only thing that matters is who is holding it.

Karasu wasn't violent. He could fight and do some fairly impressive damage, but he didn't do it because he wanted to hurt someone. He had even told Batman that he wasn't the type to kill. No, he wasn't violent for the sake of being violent; there was always a reason – even if it was just defending his self-claimed territory.

Plucking the blade up off the ground, Batman turned and continued down the direction the handle of the knife had been pointing.

He had only gone a few steps when his eyes were drawn to a shadowed doorway. Looking closer and allowing his eyes to adjust he made out a figure sitting on the half-step that lead to the door.

"Karasu" Batman greeted.

"Batman" Karasu returned.

The Dark Knight took a few seconds to look over Karasu. There was a tear on his sleeve, but he couldn't tell if there was any blood on account of the dark fabric and the low lighting available. Karasu didn't seem to have anything beyond superficial injuries other than that.

"You found them" the bird stated when he realized that Batman was too busy observing him to initiate any conversation.

"You make it sound like you didn't think I would" Batman replied. Karasu grinned faintly.

"Not trying to insult you, Mr. World's Greatest Detective" he said letting his head fall back against the door with a dull thud. "I was just wondering if anyone would care to" he continued.

"You didn't think anyone would look for you?" Batman asked with a raised eyebrow. Karasu shrugged.

"Didn't have any obligations to" he replied.

"No" Batman agreed taking a few steps closer and watching the bird carefully.

"So you came because you cared" Karasu stated. The Dark Knight nodded.

"Yes" he said. Karasu nodded.

"And now I'm sure I can trust you" he said, sliding his eyes shut with a sigh.

"Karasu" Batman said sternly. The bird blinked up at him, somewhat surprised to find the bat crouched in front of him.

"Hmmm?" he hummed tilting his head to the side.

"You need to stay awake" Batman stated. Karasu let at an amused snort.

"Easy for you to say" he replied bracing a hand on the door behind him and pulling himself onto his feet. "Just so you know, I'm not sure how long my legs will hold out" he commented idly. Batman nodded.

After a few less than sure steps, Karasu seemed to balance himself and walked steadily, if not a little slowly, with the Dark Knight toward the nearest zeta tube. Batman watched him carefully, prepared to steady the bird if needed.

"Are you sure it's safe?" Karasu asked suddenly. Batman raised an eyebrow.

"You've used it before" he replied, his tone even.

"Yeah, but not when I had poison running rampant through my veins" Karasu argued.

"If it were running rampant you would already be dead" Batman returned bluntly. Karasu snorted.

"That's reassuring. But seriously, that thing breaks down your molecules or whatever – couldn't that make it worse?" he asked.

"No" Batman replied.

"You sound awfully sure about that – speaking from prior experience?" Karasu asked with a raised eyebrow as they came up on the disguised entrance of the zeta tube. Batman glanced at him, stepped into the zeta tube, and disappeared in a flash of light. Karasu grinned.

"It's totally happened before" he said as he stepped into the phone booth.

.

Karasu stumbled out of the tube with a hand held to his head.

"And now I'm dizzy" he declared monotonously. The bird blinked and glanced around noticing for the first time that the team was there – and they were staring at him with questioning looks.

"Uh, hello?" He greeted uncertainly, furrowing his brows a bit and wondering why everyone was hanging out at the zeta tube.

"You're not as bad as I thought you'd be" Kid Flash stated after a couple moments of silence.

"Sorry that I'm not dying fast enough for you – would you prefer I be unconscious, because I can do that for you" Karasu replied dryly.

"Oh – uh – I didn't mean it like that! I just thought that- woah!" the speedster cut off jumping forward in an attempt to catch Karasu as he all but crumpled to the ground. Kid Flash managed to slow the bird's descent, but he still ended up on the floor.

"Oh, my legs don't work anymore. Good" Karasu deadpanned pushing himself into a sitting position. "Well I did say I didn't know how long they'd last" he mused idly. Batman resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"The poison causes some muscle paralysis" Batman informed them. "Med-bay, now" he ordered leading the way out of the room.

Superboy swept Karasu off the floor into a bridal hold startling the bird who looked around sharply then groaned.

"Jeez, Supey, why don't you just throw my pride out the window? It's so far gone we can't even _mourn_ it" Karasu complained.

"Sorry?" Superboy ventured wondering if he should put the acrobat back down.

"Nah, don't be. I got hurt saving a _speedster_ – at least I can take solace in the fact that his pride's more hurt than mine" the bird replied dismissively.

"Hey!" Kid Flash cried out affronted.

"Don't worry Flash Boy, I still love you" Karasu said.

"Dude!" Kid Flash exclaimed as Superboy walked through the doors to the med-bay. The clone deposited Karasu on a bed as Batman and Flash approached from the other side of the room.

"You're in luck, we actually had this antidote on hand – though I guess that means we're dealing entirely too much with Cheshire lately" Flash said.

"Yay me" Karasu drawled with a distinctive lack of enthusiasm.

"Well don't sound so excited there" Flash said.

"I'm coping with being poisoned and I chose sarcasm as my fallback – would you prefer that I be screaming and crying" Karasu asked with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"Good point" Flash replied with a nod. Batman walked up to the bed holding a syringe. He turned and stared at the teens who were still crowding the doorway. Aqualad gave a brief nod.

"We should go, excuse us" the Atlantian said. The others stared at him in confusion and he nodded his head toward the door. Their eyes lit up in realization and they filed out the door shutting it behind them. Batman turned to Karasu.

"Arm" he stated. Karasu stared at him for a moment and Batman curled his fingers inward in a 'come on' gesture.

Batman narrowed his eyes and Karasu rolled his own before placing his arm in Batman's hand.

"This is going to make you lethargic – you'll probably sleep for a little while" the Dark Knight stated.

"So you're saying that the antidote is going to compromise me more than the poison? What sense does that make?" Karasu commented incredulously.

"You know the poison will eventually _kill_ you, right? And that you couldn't _walk_ in here?" Flash interjected with both of his eyebrows raised.

"Details" Karsasu replied flippantly.

"Lie down" Batman ordered. Karasu did so without a fight and Batman, suddenly holding a batarang, sliced off over half of Karasu's sleeve.

"Was that necessary?" Karasu asked with a bemused expression.

"No" Batman replied as he cleaned the crook of Karasu's elbow.

"It goes in the elbow? Not the upper arm or something – ow" Karasu cut off with a wince as Batman inserted the needle. "You know, you could have given me some sort of warning" the bird protested.

"Batman never gives warnings – only threats" Flash interjected with a grin.

"Noted" Karasu replied as Batman rolled up the young man's sleeve to inspect the cut from Cheshire's sai. It wasn't particularly deep – probably why the poison was moving so slowly – and had long since stopped bleeding.

The Dark knight deftly cleaned out the wound and wrapped it in some gauze while Karasu began to doze from the effects of the antidote.

Just when it seemed like he had fallen asleep, the bird opened his eyes and struggled to sit up. Batman placed a hand on his shoulder and pushed him gently back down onto the bed.

"You need to rest" he said. Karasu shook his head sluggishly.

"Forgot – contacts" he murmured.

"What about contacts – whoever it is can wait, surely?" Flash asked with a confused look.

"Not that kind of contact" Karasu said giving the speedster an odd look.

"He's wearing contacts to help hide his identity. Did you really think that his eyes were naturally like that?" Batman asked. Flash scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"I guess I didn't really think about it" he said. Batman turned his attention back to the injured bird.

"You know that you're potentially giving up your secret identity by allowing us to remove them, don't you?" Batman asked seriously. Karasu nodded, his eyes becoming hazy as he fought off the looming unconsciousness.

"So why would he be willing to take them off?" Flash asked.

"It's harmful to leave contacts on for an extended period of time, especially when sleeping and we don't know how long he's going to be out" was Batman's response. The Dark Knight helped Karasu sit up so he could remove his contacts and the hero's eyes widened in shock and disbelief when a familiar pair of deep blue eyes stared back at him for a moment before sliding closed. There was only one person who those eyes could belong to.

'_Richard Grayson'_ he thought, everything he had observed about the acrobat clicking into place.

"What is it? Do you know who he is?" Flash asked when he noticed that Batman was staring at the now sleeping boy. The Dark Knight turned after another moment to look at the speedster.

"Yes" he answered simply.

"Well, who is he?" Flash asked.

"I'll let him decide if he wants to tell you" Batman replied. Flash sighed.

"So how come you couldn't figure out who he was?" he asked with his eye brows furrowed in confusion.

"It's like what he said; technically he doesn't exist – at least not anymore" Batman said.

.

**I didn't want to get too specific – especially considering I don't know much about poison and its effects beyond the obvious – and I couldn't remember if Cheshire gave the type of poison in the episode(Intruder…Infiltrator? I think it was Infiltrator…yeah because Robin's word of the day was outfiltrated **_**"The infiltrators have been outfiltrated"**_**), but yeah – not sure if she gave specifics or not. Though I believe it was a jellyfish poison or something? Because I remember thinking it ironic seeing as she was threatening Kaldur, then he said something about having dense skin…**

_**Aaaaand**_** I'm rambling, so I'll stop. **

**Just know that there is little to nothing here that is medically accurate. (I obviously don't even know where the shot **_**goes**_**).**

**Oh, and the "speaking from prior experience" thing (at the zeta tube) that's sort of a reference to Justice League where Batman is bitten by Copperhead (I think) and he ends up at the Watchtower. I'm pretty sure they used the zeta technology to get him up there, maybe not, but – meh.**

**Sorry if the revelation isn't what you wanted it to be. This was the way I planned to reveal Karasu as Dick from the very beginning and I guess it might be a little anti-climatic, but it is what it is.**

**And I'm sorry for taking so long. This chapter's important (I re-wrote it like three times – ugh). I haven't been on in **_**forever**_** - sorry if you've asked anything, I haven't gotten to it (PM or review) – I will next chapter. ****Promise. And it will _NOT_ take as long as this one. I refuse to allow it.**

**On top of the whole writer's block thing I've been busy **_**and**_** my jackhammer still hasn't been fixed.**

**I think the mechanic stole it.**

**Jerk.**

**Bye!**


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Young Justice or its characters

.

**Answering Questions/Commenting – skip ahead if you're not interested :P**

.

**ashley**: here a new jack hammer hope you can update soon

Aw, thank you. But the thing with me and the mechanic is now personal. *pulls out sniper rifle* Imma gonna get 'em.

**Guest**: why do you need a jack hammer? never mind. the joker should send him a get well soon card. please update soon!

I use a jack hammer to get through my writer's block, but it broke a few chapter back

**Guest**: did karasu ever get his check?

For the wall Bane busted? Yeah, I'm sure he got it n_n

.

**A lot of comments are also centering around my inability to update in a timely manner. I'm sorry 'bout that, but it's tough to get into the writing mood sometimes and I keep getting stuck *grumbles,* but you never have to worry about me dropping the story. I won't. I refuse to do so. And really, the story's close to being over, but I have been thinking about doing another fic – not a sequel or anything – but just a collection of oneshots and short stories with Karasu. I'm not sure about it yet and it probably wouldn't be updated regularly or anything, but it's a thought.**

**Main point is – I won't drop the story. It just might take a little while to finish it.**

.

Previously in **A Lone Bird**

"_Well, who is he?" Flash asked._

"_I'll let him decide if he wants to tell you" Batman replied. Flash sighed._

"_So how come you couldn't figure out who he was?" he asked with his eye brows furrowed in confusion._

"_It's like what he said; technically he doesn't exist – at least not anymore" Batman said._

.

Chapter 26

Cerulean eyes slowly blinked open as Karasu regained consciousness. The first thing he became aware of was a pair of white lenses hovering not six inches away from his face.

"Hey- OUCH!" Flash recoiled, eyes wide and hand held gingerly over his nose and stared at Karasu's fist, which was still extended in the air between them.

"Jeez kid, you've got a mean right hook" the speedster continued as he scrunched his nose and prodded at the appendage to see if it was broken. Karasu blinked at him and offered a half shrug.

"Sorry" the bird replied, not sounding at all apologetic. He let his hand fall back onto the bed and glanced around the room, eyes lighting on a chair near the bed that he distinctly remembered _not_ being there when he had fallen asleep. He reached out and placed a hand on it – cold. Flash hadn't been using it, so why was it there? Karasu furrowed his brows, but was pulled out of his thoughts when Flash spoke again.

"I'm going to contact Batman and tell him that you're awake – oh, and do you mind if I tell the team? They've been moping around and worrying since you fell asleep" the speedster said.

"Yeah, sure – how long was I asleep anyway?" Karasu asked.

"Not too long. About a day and a half – we were expecting you to stay out longer" Flash replied.

"Really? The poison must have been worse than it seemed" Karasu commented.

"Well that and the antidote wipes you out" Flash replied. He turned to the door and froze, a feeling of dread overcoming him. "Oh crap, sorry about calling you 'kid,' it just sort of slipped and –" he rambled.

"Nah, don't worry about it – it's fine" Karasu interrupted, flapping his hand dismissively. The speedster furrowed his eyebrows.

"What? You won't let Superman or Red Arrow call you that, but it's completely fine when I do?" he asked.

"There's a difference – _they_ do it to be condescending and you use it as more of an endearment" Karasu replied with a shrug.

"Oh" Flash said nodding in understanding, he grinned. "Can I tell Superman that you let me call you that?"

"Absolutely" Karasu replied with a matching grin.

.

Flash appeared with the customary gust of wind in the 'living room' where the team was gathered.

"Good to see that nothing's changed and you're all still moping" he stated with an amused grin, his hands resting on his hips.

"We're not moping!" Wally retorted throwing his head back on the couch so he could make eye contact with his uncle.

"Uh-huh" Flash replied dubiously.

"What do you want?" Artemis asked not bothering to look away from the TV.

"Now is that any way to ask someone something?" Flash asked. Artemis shot him an annoyed look before going back to what she had been doing. M'gann floated over from the kitchen.

"You were looking after Karasu, right? Is he ok?" she asked anxiously.

"More than ok – he woke up" the Scarlett Speedster answered.

"Really?" Wally asked jumping off the couch and looking at Flash excitedly.

"Yep" Flash replied.

"Let's go see him" Wally exclaimed.

"Calm down, Baywatch" Artemis scolded grabbing the speedster's shoulder as he made to leave the room.

"Are you certain he wants to see us?" Kaldur asked.

"Yeah, he said it was fine" Flash replied.

"It doesn't seem like him. To let us be around him when he's weak, I mean" Artemis commented.

"Oh, trust me, he's stronger than he looks" Flash said rubbing his nose gently. "And I don't know. We've never been around him when he was injured – it does seem like he wouldn't want to show any weakness" he paused. "But he let Batman know who he was, so I guess he trusts us."

"He told Batman his real name?" Wally asked incredulously.

"Not exactly – he knew Batman would recognize him and he showed his full face anyway" Flash replied.

"And Batman recognized him – just like that?" Artemis questioned. Flash nodded.

"Yep, immediately" he said.

"Then why couldn't he figure out his identity before?" Wally asked.

"I'm not sure; Bats said something about whoever Karasu is not actually existing anymore" the older speedster explained. Wally furrowed his eyebrows.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked. Flash shrugged.

"No clue, but apparently Karasu was the one who initially told him that" he said.

"Of course" Artemis scoffed; more to herself than to any of them.

"I don't understand how those two think" Wally commented.

"What, Batman and Karasu?" Flash asked.

"Yeah, I get Batman – he's, well, he's _Batman_, but Karasu is the closest comparison I've ever seen" Wally replied. The others nodded.

"They do seem to understand each other fairly easily" Flash agreed.

"Are we going to see him or not?" Conner asked bluntly. All of this talking really wasn't getting them anywhere. He never could understand why everyone seemed inclined to talk so much.

"Yeah, let's go" Wally exclaimed, blurring away and leaving a gust of wind in his wake. Flash watched his nephew go before turning to the remaining teens.

"You all head on back, I've got to go and tell Batman he woke up" he said.

"Of course. Thank you for letting us know" Kaldur replied as he led the rest of the team toward the med-bay.

.

"What's the chair done to you?" Wally asked as he entered the med-bay. Karasu glanced up at the speedster before returning his attention to the chair by the bed.

"It wasn't there when I fell asleep" he replied. Wally raised an eyebrow.

"So?" he asked.

"_So_, it wasn't there then and now it _is_ – do you know what that means?" Karasu inquired.

"Uh – no" Wally answered.

"Someone was watching me _sleep_" Karasu explained as the other teens entered the room.

"Hello Karasu" M'gann greeted with a smile.

"I am glad to see you are well" Kaldur added.

"Yeah – me, too" Karasu replied. Artemis and Conner nodded their own greetings to the bird as Flash appeared in the doorway.

"Batman was already on his way back, so he'll be here soon" the words were barely out of the speedster's mouth when the computer echoed Batman's arrival through the mountain. "Or he'll be here now" Flash amended.

"Why was he already on his way here?" M'gann asked.

"He was coming to check on Karasu" Flash replied.

"Why? You said earlier that you thought I would still be asleep" Karasu commented glancing at the chair again. And they all think Batman's heartless.

"To make sure the poison was gone and – I don't know, he's Batman. I try not to question him" Flash replied slightly flustered.

"Your eyes are blue!" M'gann exclaimed suddenly. All eyes turned to Karasu who watched with raised eye brows.

"Yes?" Karasu replied questioningly.

"Sorry, this is just the first time I've actually seen them" M'gann said smiling sheepishly.

"It only took him getting hurt to let us see them" Artemis said in an almost teasing tone.

"How do you know? You never _asked_ to see my eyes" Karasu retorted good naturedly.

"Would you have shown us?" Artemis asked. Karasu shrugged.

"Maybe" he replied.

"Why'd you do it?" Wally interrupted; a searching look in his eyes.

"Do what?" Karasu asked furrowing his eyebrows at the random question.

"You know…" Wally said gesturing to the bird and the hospital style bed he currently occupied.

"Get hurt? You mean save you?" Karasu asked.

"Yeah, you pushed me out of the way and got hit yourself" the speedster replied.

"Wasn't exactly planning on getting hit, you know" Karasu retorted dryly.

"You had to know it was a possibility" Wally pressed.

"Of course" Karasu replied shrugging dismissively.

"But you still did it" Wally continued.

"Yes, I figured that I had a better chance if it _was_ poisoned – which was likely" Karasu explained.

"I heal fast" Wally defended.

"Exactly – fast. You're a speedster – I don't know the specifics, but it seems to me like the poison would spread _faster._ But like I said, I'm no expert and I haven't gotten into the medical files yet; maybe poison doesn't affect speedsters as much" Karasu finished with a shrug.

"Haven't gotten to the medical files? You're hacking the League again?" Flash cut in.

"Yeah, I got back in" Karasu replied.

"Does Batman know?" Flash asked.

"Why don't you ask him?" Karasu inquired nodding toward the door. Batman stood in the open doorway surveying the group gathered inside the room. His gaze flicked over the heroes briefly before landing on Karasu.

He stayed silent, noting that the bird looked better than he had when Batman had last seen him. He had been there since Artemis' teasing about Karasu getting hurt and Wally's subsequent questioning on the same subject.

"So?" Flash finally asked.

"What?" Batman prompted.

"Do you know that Karasu is hacking the League again?" the speedster inquired.

"Yes" Batman replied.

Flash opened his mouth to say something else, but before he could Superman's arrival was echoed through the mountain.

"What's _he_ doing here?" Karasu groaned.

"Uh, I guess he didn't believe me when I told him that you let me call you kid without promise of some kind of retribution" Flash answered.

"So what – he's going to ask for himself?" Wally asked incredulously.

"Apparently" Flash replied as Superman appeared in the doorway.

"There you all are" he said entering the room. The other occupants just stared at him. "Right, anyway Flash told me something earlier and I don't think-" Superman started.

"It's true" Karasu said cutting him off.

"But why would you let him call you that and not me or Red Arrow?" the Man of Steel asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

"What I do or do not let others call me is my choice" Karasu replied.

"But what's the difference?" Superman asked.

"You really don't get it do you? His is more affectionate – a nickname. Yours is derogatory. You use it to set yourself above me – it's insulting" Karasu explained.

"I'm not trying to insult you" Superman insisted.

"Yeah? Well you're not doing a good job of making it seem otherwise" the bird replied.

"But-" Superman started.

"He's right" Batman cut in dryly, glancing up from where he was digging around in a drawer.

"See?" Karasu said triumphantly. Superman sighed.

"I'm sorry; I shouldn't have said it – does that help?" he asked.

"No, not really" Karasu replied.

"I _am_ sorry and I'll try not to do it again. Can we just pretend it didn't happen?" Superman asked more sincerely. Karasu sighed dramatically.

"I suppose" he said.

Batman walked back to the bed Karasu was in and held his hand out. Karasu raised his eyebrows and placed his arm in Batman's hand allowing the hero to check the wound. He flinched as Batman abruptly shoved a needle into his arm.

"Ow! What is _wrong_ with you?" the bird complained as Batman started to draw blood.

"Needed a blood sample" Batman replied.

"And you couldn't, I don't know, ask?" Karasu inquired. Batman didn't answer. "And I thought we talked about _warning_ me when you're going to stick me with a needle" he continued accusingly, unperturbed by Batman's lack of response.

The Dark Knight headed over to the other side of the room where the equipment for testing blood was located and put the sample in the machine completely ignoring the bird.

"How can you do that?" Wally asked.

"Do what?" Karasu retorted, turning to face the speedster with a raised eyebrow.

"Talk to Batman like that – I'm afraid he would kill me if I did" Wally replied.

"Please, he doesn't kill" Karasu said.

"He maims" Wally persisted. Karasu snorted.

"So? I thought you healed fast" he replied.

"I do, but it would still hurt!" Wally said, he gasped. "What if he paralyzed me?"

"Do you seriously think that he would do that?" Karasu asked.

"Well…no, but – Batman's scary, ok? You guys agree, right?" Wally asked turning to the other teens.

"He can be… intimidating" Kaldur replied. Artemis and M'gann nodded and Conner just shrugged.

"Bats scares me all of the time" Flash agreed grinning broadly.

"I wouldn't say that I'm scared of him – Wah!" Superman cut off as Batman appeared next to him.

"Yeah, doesn't scare you at all" Flash teased. The Kryptonian sent him a withering look, but didn't bother to rebuke him.

"Poison's gone" Batman stated.

"Great. Can I go then?" Karasu asked.

"No" Batman replied. Karasu furrowed his eyebrows.

"You're keeping me here?" he asked.

"Yes" the Dark Knight said.

"_Why_?" Karasu asked.

"Observation" Batman replied simply.

"Uh-huh, and how long is that going to last?" Karasu asked suspiciously. He shook his head, "wait, don't tell me. Until you say so, right?" Batman just stared, Karasu nodded. "Of course. And what am I supposed to do until then?"

"_Well_, Batman said he figured out who you are, but he wouldn't tell – that it was your choice whether or not to let us know. So…" Flash trailed off.

"So you're wondering if I'll tell you?" Karasu asked.

"Not that you have to or anything – I was just wondering about it since you were ok with Batman knowing, but I totally get it if-" Flash rattled off a little nervously.

"Yeah, sure" Karasu cut in smoothly.

"Really?" Wally asked excitedly. Karasu shrugged.

"Don't see why not. I trust you guys...well" he paused and sent Superman a contemplative look. "Yeah, I trust you, and it's not like I do much as my 'secret identity.' Everyone else in the world except Batman thinks I'm dead"

"So _that's_ what the whole notexisting thing was about" Flash commented thoughtfully.

"Yeah, pretty much" Karasu agreed. Wally perked up.

"Are we just going to get your name or are you going to tell us some history? Like, um, like why you chose to live in Gotham? How come you don't live with your family? How long have you been living on your own? How did you figure out our identities? Where'd you learn to fight? Why do you hate Bane so much? Do you really have card parties with Joker? Who else goes-" he rambled.

"Woah! Slow down, dude. One question at a time" Karasu interrupted. "Ok, first thing's first – My real name is Richard Grayson, but everyone at the circus called me Dick."

.

**The way this chapter ends stinks, but it got too long and I didn't know how to end it without making it seem like the end of a conversation instead of the beginning of one.**

**I was hoping to update sooner, but I got stuck again and I've been distracted lately. (And been playing entirely too much Minecraft) I made a picture thingy of Karasu … *blinks* thingy is a word? My computer says that thingy's a word! **

… **Sorry, got a little off tangent there. But yeah, I made a picture thingy of Karasu on Minecraft and I put a screenshot of it up on Deviantart, if you want to see it n_n**

**h-t-tp :/ / browse. deviant art .-com / Minecraft-Karasu-376470419**

**(Take out spaces and hiphens (-) from .-com and h-t-tp)**

**If the link doesn't work try looking my profile up (remember on Deviantart it's Rictah, not just Ricta). Or just search "Minecraft Karasu"**

**And if none of that works let me know**

**Next chapter is obviously going to be about his back story, so I'll see you all then.**

**BYE!**


End file.
